.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
With its naturalistic floral marquetry and rich ormolu mounts, this commode epitomises the fashion for French Louis XV furniture in Holland in the 1760s and 70s.
The quality of the marquetry (which here interestingly depicts another piece of French furniture, the bureau plat) and distinctive mounts on this commode are associated with the workshop of Matthijs Horrix. The engraving on the ribbons in particular as well as the shape of this commode relates to a commode attributed to Horrix in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Bowhill House, Scotland. The marquetry in the central panel further relates to a commode offered Christie's, London 2 May 2013. The distinctive ornamental gilt-bronze mounts which embellish Dutch furniture in the French style were, however, rarely produced in Holland. Remarkably the mounts employed by Horrix and other Dutch cabinet-makers can be traced to Britain and appear in sales catalogues of a Birmingham metalwork firm, which was almost certainly manufacturing mounts for export. Indeed the angle mounts on this commode correspond to a design from a catalogue of English mounts currently preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (illustrated Reinier J. Baarsen, Aspecten van de Nederlandse meubelkunst in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 94 fig. 23).
Marquetry of this type was most admired in The Hague, where the Stadtholder’s court was based and where foreign embassies had introduced the French style some time before. After the cabinet-makers of Amsterdam and The Hague applied pressure on the authorities to ban imported French furniture, Dutch cabinet-makers began to emulate the Parisian style and none more successfully than Horrix, who even named his shop ‘In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag’.
The quality of the marquetry (which here interestingly depicts another piece of French furniture, the bureau plat) and distinctive mounts on this commode are associated with the workshop of Matthijs Horrix. The engraving on the ribbons in particular as well as the shape of this commode relates to a commode attributed to Horrix in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Bowhill House, Scotland. The marquetry in the central panel further relates to a commode offered Christie's, London 2 May 2013. The distinctive ornamental gilt-bronze mounts which embellish Dutch furniture in the French style were, however, rarely produced in Holland. Remarkably the mounts employed by Horrix and other Dutch cabinet-makers can be traced to Britain and appear in sales catalogues of a Birmingham metalwork firm, which was almost certainly manufacturing mounts for export. Indeed the angle mounts on this commode correspond to a design from a catalogue of English mounts currently preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (illustrated Reinier J. Baarsen, Aspecten van de Nederlandse meubelkunst in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw, Amsterdam, 1992, p. 94 fig. 23).
Marquetry of this type was most admired in The Hague, where the Stadtholder’s court was based and where foreign embassies had introduced the French style some time before. After the cabinet-makers of Amsterdam and The Hague applied pressure on the authorities to ban imported French furniture, Dutch cabinet-makers began to emulate the Parisian style and none more successfully than Horrix, who even named his shop ‘In de commode van Parijs tot Den Haag’.