IN THE MANNER OF JOHN COBB, CIRCA 1770

Details

A GEORGE III HAREWOOD, SATINWOOD, TULIPWOOD, KINGWOOD AND MARQUETRY COMMODE
IN THE MANNER OF JOHN COBB, CIRCA 1770
The serpentine top centered by an oval inlaid with paterae flanked by foliage, above a pair of cupboard doors centered with medallions of flowers, enclosing four compartments, on slightly splayed feet, with inventory label inscribed D.R. 51.1020
33 ¾ in. (85.5 cm.) high, 46 in. (117 cm.) wide, 25 ½ in. (65 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired from Cecil Turner, The Dower House, Newbury, July 1947.

Literature

D. Fennimore et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Decorative Arts, New York, 1992, vol. IV, p. 301, no. 316.

Special notice

This Lot is transferred to Christie’s Redstone Post-Sale Facility in Long Island City after 5.00 pm on the last day of the sale. They will be available at Redstone on the following Monday. Property may be transferred at Christie’s discretion following the sale and we advise that you contact Purchaser Payments on +1 212 636 2495 to confirm your property’s location at any given time. Lots made of or including (regardless of the percentage) endangered and other protected species of wildlife are marked with the symbol ~ in the catalogue. This material includes, among other things, ivory, tortoiseshell, crocodile skin, rhinoceros horn, whalebone certain species of coral, and Brazilian rosewood. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on any lot containing wildlife material if you plan to import the lot into another country. Several countries refuse to allow you to import property containing these materials, and some other countries require a licence from the relevant regulatory agencies in the countries of exportation as well as importation. In some cases, the lot can only be shipped with an independent scientific confirmation of species and/or age, and you will need to obtain these at your own cost. On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is a lot where Christie’s holds a direct financial guarantee interest.

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Lot Essay

The general form for this commode relates to one constructed in the 1760s for Thomas Villiers, Baron Hyde of Hindon, later 1st Earl of Clarendon (d. 1786), and attributed to the Court cabinet-maker, John Cobb of St. Martin's Lane (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 88-90, figs. i-vii). The Clarendon commode, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, also features medallions of beribboned bouquets in hollow-cornered tablets. It belongs to a group of related commodes which have all been attributed to Cobb on the basis of comparison with a commode by him at Corsham Court, supplied to Paul Methuen in 1772 (ibid., figs. 75-77). Several of the commodes in the group share the same distinctive reeded carrying-handles with oak-leaf backplates that are associated with the work of Cobb and seen on other commodes by him, including the Alscot Park commode, supplied by Cobb in 1766 (ibid., figs. 82, 83, 85, 91 and 35). A similar commode sold Christie's, London, 9 June 2011, lot 339.

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