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Lot Essay
This handsome serpentine commode, with its golden figured veneers and gadrooned-rim top, is attributed to the St Martin's Lane cabinet-maker John Cobb (d.1778), a contemporary of Thomas Chippendale (d.1779), who formed a successful partnership with William Vile (d.1781). Together they were appointed cabinet-makers to George III in 1761 completing substantial commissions in the Royal Palaces, while also undertaking notable work for Sir Lawrence Dundas in London, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire, for the Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, Worcestershire, and others (G.Beard and C.Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 181-184 and 923-928). The commode shares certain characteristics with other examples forming a cohesive group that can reasonably be attributed to Cobb.
THE DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTION
The general form of the commode relates to designs by Thomas Chippendale published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1762). Here he illustrated a series of 'French' fashioned commode tables, notably pl. LXIV, LXV and LXVI, serpentine or bombé in shape and raised on cabriole legs. The design was widely adopted by cabinet-makers who executed the commodes with ormolu or gilt-lacquered brass mounts and exotic veneers as in the present example, or further embellished with ornate floral marquetry designs, very much in the manner promoted by the Parisian ébéniste Jean-François Oeben.
Similar commodes are likely to have been made by many of the most fashionable London makers including Chippendale himself, Vile and Cobb, Pierre Langlois, the French-born emigré who may have trained under Oeben and was established in Tottenham Court Road from 1759, and obscure figures such as John Carrack, August Birsch and John Bruno Guichard (L.Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp.79-87, note 29). The popularity of the form leads to difficulties in attribution.
COBB RATHER THAN LANGLOIS
The present commode features angle mounts of pierced acanthus foliage with distinctive chains of leaf buds and extravagantly scrolled feet, which are commonly associated with Langlois. In a series of articles by Peter Thornton and William Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebéniste I - V', The Connoisseur, December 1971-May 1972, a number of marquetry and lacquer commodes by, or attributed to, Langlois, and featuring the same mounts, are illustrated. These include securely attributable examples at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (a commode originally supplied for Croome Court, Worcestershire), and another acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Langlois shared his workshop with a bronze caster and gilder, Dominique Jean, and it was Jean that supplied mounts for Langlois' furniture, but he certainly also supplied them to other cabinet-makers. And while some ormolu mounts on the aforementioned examples are classic Langlois, these are all extravagant commodes demonstrating Langlois' mastery of marquetry technique; they are some way removed from the more restrained elegance of the present lot. It cannot follow that because the present commode features Langlois mounts, that he was necessarily the maker. Indeed we know the scrolled Langlois feet of the present commode to be replacements; when sold in 1967 the sabot feet were of more modest form.
Among commodes that are clearly related to the present lot is a pair formerly at Norfolk House, London, and illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl.234. They feature the same gadrooned edge moulding and foliate handles with fixed bails. However their authorship is uncertain. The most closely related example, with the same arrangement of drawers and apron pattern, and almost identical finely figured and crossbanded veneers, is a commode originally at Wentworth Woodhouse and now in a distinguished private collection. The angle mounts of this are also of 'Langlois-type', yet it significantly features oak-leaf drawer handles and lion mask side handles, which are highly characteristic of a group of commodes associated with John Cobb. These include one supplied by Cobb in 1766 to James West for Alscot Park, Warwickshire, and another at Burghley, Lincolnshire (L.Wood, op.cit, pp. 50 - 51, figs. 35 and 36. Another, clearly associated with John Cobb and featuring lion mask handles to the side, but with 'French' drawer handles was exhibited by Norman Adams Ltd., at the Art Treasures Exhibition, Bath, 1958. It is by association with these examples that the present commode should be judged.
THE DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTION
The general form of the commode relates to designs by Thomas Chippendale published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1762). Here he illustrated a series of 'French' fashioned commode tables, notably pl. LXIV, LXV and LXVI, serpentine or bombé in shape and raised on cabriole legs. The design was widely adopted by cabinet-makers who executed the commodes with ormolu or gilt-lacquered brass mounts and exotic veneers as in the present example, or further embellished with ornate floral marquetry designs, very much in the manner promoted by the Parisian ébéniste Jean-François Oeben.
Similar commodes are likely to have been made by many of the most fashionable London makers including Chippendale himself, Vile and Cobb, Pierre Langlois, the French-born emigré who may have trained under Oeben and was established in Tottenham Court Road from 1759, and obscure figures such as John Carrack, August Birsch and John Bruno Guichard (L.Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp.79-87, note 29). The popularity of the form leads to difficulties in attribution.
COBB RATHER THAN LANGLOIS
The present commode features angle mounts of pierced acanthus foliage with distinctive chains of leaf buds and extravagantly scrolled feet, which are commonly associated with Langlois. In a series of articles by Peter Thornton and William Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebéniste I - V', The Connoisseur, December 1971-May 1972, a number of marquetry and lacquer commodes by, or attributed to, Langlois, and featuring the same mounts, are illustrated. These include securely attributable examples at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (a commode originally supplied for Croome Court, Worcestershire), and another acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Langlois shared his workshop with a bronze caster and gilder, Dominique Jean, and it was Jean that supplied mounts for Langlois' furniture, but he certainly also supplied them to other cabinet-makers. And while some ormolu mounts on the aforementioned examples are classic Langlois, these are all extravagant commodes demonstrating Langlois' mastery of marquetry technique; they are some way removed from the more restrained elegance of the present lot. It cannot follow that because the present commode features Langlois mounts, that he was necessarily the maker. Indeed we know the scrolled Langlois feet of the present commode to be replacements; when sold in 1967 the sabot feet were of more modest form.
Among commodes that are clearly related to the present lot is a pair formerly at Norfolk House, London, and illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl.234. They feature the same gadrooned edge moulding and foliate handles with fixed bails. However their authorship is uncertain. The most closely related example, with the same arrangement of drawers and apron pattern, and almost identical finely figured and crossbanded veneers, is a commode originally at Wentworth Woodhouse and now in a distinguished private collection. The angle mounts of this are also of 'Langlois-type', yet it significantly features oak-leaf drawer handles and lion mask side handles, which are highly characteristic of a group of commodes associated with John Cobb. These include one supplied by Cobb in 1766 to James West for Alscot Park, Warwickshire, and another at Burghley, Lincolnshire (L.Wood, op.cit, pp. 50 - 51, figs. 35 and 36. Another, clearly associated with John Cobb and featuring lion mask handles to the side, but with 'French' drawer handles was exhibited by Norman Adams Ltd., at the Art Treasures Exhibition, Bath, 1958. It is by association with these examples that the present commode should be judged.