POSSIBLY BY WRIGHT AND ELWICK, CIRCA 1770 AND ADAPTED

This unusual commode is designed in a manner that 'has just that rich mixture of Rococo and Adamesque motifs characteristic of a "transitional" piece' - the words of Dr. Ivan Hall in describing the furniture supplied by the Wakefield, Yorkshire cabinet-making firm of Wright and Elwick for Burton Constable (C. Gilbert, 'Wright and Elwick of Wakefield, 1748-1824: A Study of Provincial Patronage, Furniture History, 1976, p. 37). Indeed, the firm is a strong candidate as the maker of this commode. They have emerged as major suppliers during the second half of the eighteenth century, principally to local patrons in Yorkshire. Among the traits that have come to light is their affinity for patterns from Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director of 1754 and 1762. They subscribed to the Director, and worked with Chippendale at Nostell Priory. Many notable examples at Wentworth Woodhouse by the firm underscore this tendency (see E. Lennox-Boyd, 'The Wentworth Cabinet-Maker: Wright and Elwick', Wentworth, Christie's House sale, 8 July 1998, pp. 110-111). While this commode does not directly compare to a Director design, it does correlate to patterns for 'French Commode Tables' of a more purely rococo design and Chippendale does introduce the fluted term leg in other furniture designs in the 1762 edition (see pl. XXV). A pair of chiffoniers similarly inlaid with boxwood flutes originally from Wentworth are possibly by the firm and representative of their later work. The chiffoniers were later sold from the collection of Mrs. Robert Tritton at Godmersham Park, Kent, Christie's house sale, 7 June 1983, lot 31 and are now in a distinguished private collection. At Burton Constable, Wright and Elwick furnished the 'Ladies Dressing Room' as well as the 'Gentleman's Dressing Room' in a manner referenced above by Dr. Hall. Very few pieces from these rooms have been identified and while it is tempting to speculate that this commode came from one of these rooms there is nothing listed 'with wrote Brass gilt Furniture' or 'inlaid in the Grecian taste' which makes it less likely.

The distinctive handles feature in a mid-eighteenth century metalworker's pattern book now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (nos. 1840 and 647) (N. Goodison, 'The Victoria and Albert Museum's Collection of Metalwork Pattern Books', Furniture History, 1975, fig 8, no. 1934). The same handle features on a four-drawer commode of related style advertised by Phillips of Hitchin Ltd in The Connoisseur, June 1964. The latter related to a pair of commodes from Arundel Castle exhibited at the International Art Treasures Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1962.