ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN COBB, CIRCA 1765

THE ATTRIBUTION
Designed in the French pittoresque manner first popularized in England by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779), this sumptuous serpentine commode epitomizes the sophisticated fusion of English and French forms in George III case furniture.

John Cobb (d. 1778), famously described as ‘one of the proudest men in England,’ who would stride ‘through his workshops giving orders to his men in full dress of the most superb and costly kind,’ first appears in the London Directory in 1750. In 1751 he entered into partnership with William Vile and established his premises in St. Martin’s Lane, becoming a close neighbor of Chippendale. The present commode closely follows Chippendale’s 1753 design for a ‘French Commode table’ published in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), pl. LXVI. Following their appointment as cabinet-makers to George III in 1761, Vile and Cobb became principal suppliers of furniture to Queen Charlotte for Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace).

As Lucy Wood has demonstrated this commode belongs to a distinctive group dating from the late 1760s characterized by Roman-acanthus serpentine ‘truss’ pilasters, lacquered-brass mounts, lambrequined sides, and a richly carved foliate apron (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 43-53). The group is anchored by the celebrated but more restrained Alscot Park commode, with the distinctive 'Chinese' style back legs, and which was supplied by Cobb to James West in 1766 and invoiced as an ‘extra fine wood commode chest-of-drawers with large handsome wrought furniture, good brass locks, etc. £16’ (H. Honour, Cabinet Makers and Furniture Designers, London, 1969, p. 112). More elaborate than the Alscot example– which features a plain cockbeaded apron– the present commode exemplifies the remarkable integration of cabinet-making and sculptural carving achieved in Cobb’s workshop around the time of Vile’s retirement in 1765.

RELATED COMMODES ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN COBB
The Aitken commode, veneered in beautifully figured mahogany and ormolu-mounted in the French manner with pierced rococo handle backplates, belongs to a distinct group executed in Cobb's workshop. These comprise:-

1. An almost identical commode, displaying veneers to some of the drawers almost certainly cut from the same piece of mahogany, with quarter-veneered top and with the same handles to front and sides, was sold anonymously, Sotheby’s, New York, 25 April 1981, lot 154.
2. A further commode, probably originally supplied to the 2nd Earl of Coventry for Croome Court, Worcestershire, which displays the same handle pattern (although with the backplates rotated) but has additional carving to the edge of the top and drawer dividers, sold by the Earl of Craven from Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire, Sotheby's London, 8 October 1965, lot 139.
3. An almost identical commode of the same dimensions, although with different metalwork, sold by Mrs. Venetia Gairdner from Hingaston House, Somerset, Lawrence's Crewkerne, 19 February 1981, lot 215.
4. An almost identical example, differing slightly in the design of the handles, from the J. P. Argenti Collection and later sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York; date unknown (Illustrated in F. Lewis Hinckley, A Directory of Antique Furniture, New York, 1953, p. 180, fig. 561 and F. Lewis Hinckley, Directory of Queen Anne, Early Georgian and Chippendale Furniture, New York, 1971, p. 239, pl. 195).
5. A bombé-form variant in the collection of the Earl and Countess Fitzwilliam at Milton, Northamptonshire (The Connoisseur, October 1960, p. 83, fig. 9).
6. Another with carved inwardly scrolled feet and carved edge to the top, sold by Earl Howe from Penn House, Buckinghamshire and now in the Untermyer Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (64.101.1142 - Y. Hackenbroch, English Furniture in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, London, 1958, fig. 322).
7. Another, displaying the same patterned mounts and carved apron but with ormolu-enriched 'herm' trusses of nymphs and satyr-hoofed feet from the H. Percy Dean Collection is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1908, col. pl. X. This was sold by Sir Archibald Edmonstone, Bt., Christie's London, 27 March 1958, lot 82.
8. Another commode, similar to the latter, recorded in the collection of Sir John Ward, which was exhibited at Donnington Priory, Berkshire, in 1982.
9. A final commode, of almost identical form, in collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock, sold Christie's, London, 22 November 2022, lot 89 and subsequently Sotheby's, New York, 18 June 2024, 1076.

The pervasive influence of Thomas Chippendale can, however, be clearly seen in the distinctive acanthus-carved trusses, which closely relate to those on the pair of commodes supplied by Thomas Chippendale for Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire circa 1770 (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, fig. 226). Interestingly, the pelta-shaped sides and refined drawer construction with unusual concave quarter-fillets also featured on the pair of lacquer-veneered commodes with satyr-hoofed feet, attributed to Cobb, supplied to St. Giles's House, Dorset and sold by the Earl of Shaftesbury, Christie's London, 11 November 1999, lot 100.

THE METALWORK
Indicative of both Cobb's creative process and his awareness of printed designs, the distinctive pattern for the 'handsome wrought furniture' - i.e.: the reeded handles and paterae backplate - feature in a mid-eighteenth century metalworker's pattern book now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (nos. 1480 and 1481) (N. Goodison, 'The Victoria and Albert Museum's Collection of Metalwork Pattern Books', Furniture History, 1975, fig. 22). This same hardware was employed elsewhere in Cobb's oeuvre, including on the pair of Chinese lacquer commodes supplied to St. Giles's House, Dorset (sold Christie's, London, 11 November 1999, lot 100) as well as on the commode from the H. Percy Dean Collection, displaying a closely related carved apron illustrated in Percy Macquoid's The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, color plate X.