Lot Essay
This parquetry commode is conceived in the Swedish Louis XV style of the 1760s and 1770s, during the reign of King Adolf Frederick. The earliest Swedish rococo commodes generally have a frieze drawer seperated from the two lower drawers by a ridge, whereas the present type of bombé commode with three drawers divided by brass channels, probably emerged in the early 1760s, and derive from French Régence examples. (P. Thornton, `Scandinavia', in H. Hayward (ed.), World Furniture, London, 1977 (10th edition), p. 175 and fig. 655)
In Paris, the regulations of the Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes were revised in 1743 and stipulated that all masters hade to stamp their work. A similar protectionistic rule was made effective by Royal decree in Stockholm in 1759. From that date onward all cabinet-makers working in that city were required to stamp their furniture if they wished to sell them on the open market. The present, unstamped commode proves that this decree was in fact not always strictly observed
A few of the most celebrated Stockholm cabinet-makers, who produced related items of furniture were, for instance, Johan Noraeus (master in 1769), Johan Gröndahl (master in 1768) and Johan Neijber (master in 1768). A related, but smaller, unstamped parquetry commode, with virtually identical ormolu mounts, is illustrated in S. Wallin, Nordiska Museets Möbler fran Svenska Herremanshem, Lund 1979, II, p. 63, fig. 452 and fig. 453.
See illustration
In Paris, the regulations of the Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes were revised in 1743 and stipulated that all masters hade to stamp their work. A similar protectionistic rule was made effective by Royal decree in Stockholm in 1759. From that date onward all cabinet-makers working in that city were required to stamp their furniture if they wished to sell them on the open market. The present, unstamped commode proves that this decree was in fact not always strictly observed
A few of the most celebrated Stockholm cabinet-makers, who produced related items of furniture were, for instance, Johan Noraeus (master in 1769), Johan Gröndahl (master in 1768) and Johan Neijber (master in 1768). A related, but smaller, unstamped parquetry commode, with virtually identical ormolu mounts, is illustrated in S. Wallin, Nordiska Museets Möbler fran Svenska Herremanshem, Lund 1979, II, p. 63, fig. 452 and fig. 453.
See illustration