CIRCA 1765

This serpentine plinth-based commode would have been fitted for a window-bay, as illustrated in a contemporary room-elevation executed by cabinet-makers William and John Linnell of Berkeley Square (see H. Hayward, 'The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Furniture History, 1969, p. 107 and fig. 162). The cabinet with its facade depicting a double-range of drawers is reminiscent of a bedroom commode almost certainly supplied by Thomas Chippendale for Sir William Baker of Bayfordbury in Hertfordshire (illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. edn., 1954, vol. II, p. 49, fig. 48). The companion to the Bayfordbury commode was sold from the collection of Joseph and Laverne Schiezler, Christie's, New York, 21 October 1999, lot 145.
The lion mask handles are similar to those employed on a cabinet signed by William Hallett from 1763 which was sold from the William F. Reilly Collection, Christie's, New York, 14 October 2009, lot 54.