A PAIR OF LATE VICTORIAN SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY DEMI-LUNE COMMODES

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 'There is not a classical nook unexplored by these restless [English] wanderers: they dispute with each other for the remains of Greece and Egypt, purchase antique marbles for their weight in gold, and pack up and ship home a Grecian temple as other people would a set of china'. British acquisitiveness, already noted by an American tourist Louis Simond in 1811, is well represented by this banqueting hall transformed into a 'trianon' for a harvest of art and nature.

A PAIR OF LATE VICTORIAN SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY DEMI-LUNE COMMODES

LATE 19TH EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF LATE VICTORIAN SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY DEMI-LUNE COMMODES
LATE 19TH EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Each crossbanded overall in rosewood and tulipwood, the top inlaid with a half-medallion bordered with foliage and issuing palmettes, the front edge inlaid with urns issuing scrolling foliage, above a ribbon-tied husk-swagged frieze and a pair of doors inlaid with ovals enclosing Roman urns surrounded by ribbon-tied husks, enclosing a shelf, between uprights inlaid with interlaced foliage surmounted by flaming finials, on square tapering legs, one commode locked
34½ in. (87.5 cm.) high; 48¼ in. (122.5 cm.) wide; 20¼ in. (51.5 cm.) deep (2)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The elliptic commodes, with sacred urn medallions, reflects the fashion for decorating in the Etruscan vase 'columbarium' style promoted by George III's court architect Robert 'Bob the Roman' Adam (d. 1792) and the publications of R. and J. Adam's, Works in Architecture, 1774. Related commodes, with four vase medallions, were supplied in 1781 for the Buckingham House Palace apartments of George, Prince of Wales, later George IV. The present commodes, with their laurel-festooned medallions are also indebted to the work of the London-trained Irish cabinet-maker William Moore (d. 1814) (R. Edwards, Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 252, fig. 23 and p. 253, fig. 25).

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