ROME, MID-18TH CENTURY

This curvaceous commode exemplifies the unique Roman variant of the Italian Rococo. The form and ornamentation of the present commode relates to the work of the Roman cabinet maker Giovanni Ermans, who had premises in the Piazza Rondanini. He is renowned for having produced fine furniture in the Louis XV style and customarily used a particular kind of light-coloured satinwood together with delicate floral marquetry in a variety of coloured veneers. While the version here offered does not feature the characteristic delicate floral marquetry it displays a purer, simpler version of his production where form dominates. One of Ermans most important commissions, dated 1765-66, was for a commode and two corner cupboards for the villa of Cardinal Flavio II Chigi on the via Salaria (see A. Gonzalez-Palacios, I Mobili Italiani, Il patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Rome, 1996, pp.78-79). These present closely related features as those on the present commode, such as the elaborate, distinctly Roman ormolu sabots.  It is interesting to note that these Roman commodes often feature lavishly veneered thick marble tops embellished with richly cast foliate gilt-bronze moulded edges.  In this case, the veneered top ‘simulates’ a thick marble top, and creates a simpler plainer version of the more elaborate exemplars. Further related examples of Ermans's oeuvre are illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, l'Arte Decorativa in Italia fra Classicismo e Barocco, vol.II, Milan, 1984, p.79 and p.100; and in D. di Castro, et. al., Il Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi e la Galleria Pallavicini, Rome, 1999, pp.336-337.  A related commode with floral marquetry and marble top was offered anonymously in these rooms, 8 December 2011, lot 224.