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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
W. Rieder, 'Andre-Charles Boulle' in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 206, no. 126.
J. Focarino, Ed. The Frick Collection, An Illustrated Catalogue, V. Furniture, New York, 1992, cat. no's. 16.5.2 and 16.5.3, pp. 233 - 246
P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection - Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, Vol. III, Appendix VII, p. 1554 & p. 1576.
P. Hughes, 'The Grand Trianon Commodes by André-Charles Boulle and their Influence,' Furniture History Society Journal, Vol. XLIII, 2007, pp. 195-203
These impressive commodes are reproductions after the pair made by André-Charles Boulle and supplied in 1708 for the bed-chamber of Louis XIV at the Palais de Trianon, now the Grand Trianon, Versailles. Thereafter known as the Trianon Commodes, they are inspired by ancient sarcophagi and are among the most recognizable and important items of furniture ever conceived. They perfectly encapsulate Boulle’s work in their striking originality and use of copper and tortoiseshell marquetry with which Boulle became synonymous, making him the greatest French cabinetmaker at the turn of the 18th century. Boulle also pioneered the use of gilt-bronze mounts, ostensibly to protect the furniture carcass but, in reality, this was an excuse to add supplementary sculptural ornament often in flattery of a royal patron. Thus the distinctive sphinx heads to the corners of the Trianon Commodes which imply knowledge and wisdom.
The model was so popular that by 1715 Boulle is recorded to have been working on three further examples and as many as six commodes matching the description appear in French 18th century auction catalogues. One 18th Century example entered the collection of the Dukes of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace, having purportedly been acquired from William Beckford at Fonthill. Prior to its sale at auction (see Christie's Hamilton Palace Sale, 17 June-20 July 1882, lot 994) the Hamilton Palace commode had been loaned by the 11th Duke for the Specimens of Cabinet Work exhibition at Gore House in London from May to July 1853. Though he did not attend the exhibition, Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford - whose celebrated collection was largely bequeathed to the British nation to become The Wallace Collection - eventually obtained permission from the Duke of Hamilton to have a replica of the commode made for his own collection, entrusting the task to the co-organizer of the exhibition, the Cork Street dealer, John Webb. In turn, Webb appears to have subcontracted the work to an anonymous cabinetmaker who, to all intents and purposes, must have been Blake of London (further collaboration between Webb and Blake is known to have taken place between 1854 and 1865 in the execution of the so-called Slocombe Table for the 4th Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle).
No commodes today remain in the Wallace Collection, and there is some scholarly dispute that Lord Hertford might have received a total of five: three are recorded in a 1912 probate inventory for his Paris hôtel particulier on rue Lafitte, and two, probably from Hertford House, sold from 5 Connaught Place following the death of Sir John E. A. Murray Scott – the eventual heir of part of Lord Hertford's collection – at Christie's, London, 24 June 1913, lot 292. It is possible that Webb and Blake subcontracted some, if not all, of the work of making the commodes to French craftsmen, and set in motion further reproductions of the model by Parisian ébénistes, notably Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois, Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, Henry Dasson, Emmanuel Zwiener and François Linke.
Interestingly the present commodes are stamped beneath the marble ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’, which indicates that they were imported to the USA sometime after 1909. Following 1891, United States tariff law required imported goods to bear the country of origin. An amendment of the tariff law in 1909 required the text to be ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’. This suggests that the commodes were purchased in England, and a likely maker/retailer at that time would have been Gillows. An article in the March 1902 issue of the Connoisseur magazine includes a photograph of Gillows galleries at 406-414 Oxford Street showing a commode of the Trianon model. The present commodes have some signs of English manufacture (such as walnut drawers) but looking especially at the fine ‘Boulle’ marquetry, it is probable that they were made, at least in part, in France. Indeed Gillows are recorded to ‘have had exact copies made by French ébénistes of the most celebrated works in the palaces and museums of France’ (Connoisseur, March 1902, p. AD. XLVI). The model is known to have been made by French ébénistes, notably François Linke, at the turn of the 20th century, and the history of the model supports the likelihood of the present commodes having been made in Paris.
W. Rieder, 'Andre-Charles Boulle' in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 206, no. 126.
J. Focarino, Ed. The Frick Collection, An Illustrated Catalogue, V. Furniture, New York, 1992, cat. no's. 16.5.2 and 16.5.3, pp. 233 - 246
P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection - Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, Vol. III, Appendix VII, p. 1554 & p. 1576.
P. Hughes, 'The Grand Trianon Commodes by André-Charles Boulle and their Influence,' Furniture History Society Journal, Vol. XLIII, 2007, pp. 195-203
These impressive commodes are reproductions after the pair made by André-Charles Boulle and supplied in 1708 for the bed-chamber of Louis XIV at the Palais de Trianon, now the Grand Trianon, Versailles. Thereafter known as the Trianon Commodes, they are inspired by ancient sarcophagi and are among the most recognizable and important items of furniture ever conceived. They perfectly encapsulate Boulle’s work in their striking originality and use of copper and tortoiseshell marquetry with which Boulle became synonymous, making him the greatest French cabinetmaker at the turn of the 18th century. Boulle also pioneered the use of gilt-bronze mounts, ostensibly to protect the furniture carcass but, in reality, this was an excuse to add supplementary sculptural ornament often in flattery of a royal patron. Thus the distinctive sphinx heads to the corners of the Trianon Commodes which imply knowledge and wisdom.
The model was so popular that by 1715 Boulle is recorded to have been working on three further examples and as many as six commodes matching the description appear in French 18th century auction catalogues. One 18th Century example entered the collection of the Dukes of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace, having purportedly been acquired from William Beckford at Fonthill. Prior to its sale at auction (see Christie's Hamilton Palace Sale, 17 June-20 July 1882, lot 994) the Hamilton Palace commode had been loaned by the 11th Duke for the Specimens of Cabinet Work exhibition at Gore House in London from May to July 1853. Though he did not attend the exhibition, Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford - whose celebrated collection was largely bequeathed to the British nation to become The Wallace Collection - eventually obtained permission from the Duke of Hamilton to have a replica of the commode made for his own collection, entrusting the task to the co-organizer of the exhibition, the Cork Street dealer, John Webb. In turn, Webb appears to have subcontracted the work to an anonymous cabinetmaker who, to all intents and purposes, must have been Blake of London (further collaboration between Webb and Blake is known to have taken place between 1854 and 1865 in the execution of the so-called Slocombe Table for the 4th Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle).
No commodes today remain in the Wallace Collection, and there is some scholarly dispute that Lord Hertford might have received a total of five: three are recorded in a 1912 probate inventory for his Paris hôtel particulier on rue Lafitte, and two, probably from Hertford House, sold from 5 Connaught Place following the death of Sir John E. A. Murray Scott – the eventual heir of part of Lord Hertford's collection – at Christie's, London, 24 June 1913, lot 292. It is possible that Webb and Blake subcontracted some, if not all, of the work of making the commodes to French craftsmen, and set in motion further reproductions of the model by Parisian ébénistes, notably Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois, Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen, Henry Dasson, Emmanuel Zwiener and François Linke.
Interestingly the present commodes are stamped beneath the marble ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’, which indicates that they were imported to the USA sometime after 1909. Following 1891, United States tariff law required imported goods to bear the country of origin. An amendment of the tariff law in 1909 required the text to be ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’. This suggests that the commodes were purchased in England, and a likely maker/retailer at that time would have been Gillows. An article in the March 1902 issue of the Connoisseur magazine includes a photograph of Gillows galleries at 406-414 Oxford Street showing a commode of the Trianon model. The present commodes have some signs of English manufacture (such as walnut drawers) but looking especially at the fine ‘Boulle’ marquetry, it is probable that they were made, at least in part, in France. Indeed Gillows are recorded to ‘have had exact copies made by French ébénistes of the most celebrated works in the palaces and museums of France’ (Connoisseur, March 1902, p. AD. XLVI). The model is known to have been made by French ébénistes, notably François Linke, at the turn of the 20th century, and the history of the model supports the likelihood of the present commodes having been made in Paris.