A PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY COMMODES , English, circa 1770
Height: 35 in; 89 cm
Width: 54 in; 137.5 cm
Depth: 25½ in; 65 cm
Width: 54 in; 137.5 cm
Depth: 25½ in; 65 cm
4430151
£100,000 +
Further images
Note: Attributed to Thomas Chippendale, the commodes retain the original handles and mounts. With minor differences between the two in the crossbanding of the tops. A similar single commode is...
Note: Attributed to Thomas Chippendale, the commodes retain the original handles and mounts. With minor differences between the two in the crossbanding of the tops.
A similar single commode is in the collection at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire. The construction is of particular interest: unlike related shaped commodes by John Cobb, in which the shaped apron to the front of the commode forms part of the bottom drawer, in commodes from the Chippendale workshop the shaped apron is part of the main carcase, as in the Nostell Priory example. Other shaped commodes, such as the pair of firmly documented commodes from St. Giles’s House in Dorset, feature the apron as part of the drawer front.
Another deciding factor is the choice of handles. Cobb appears to have routinely used baroque handles with laurel-leaf wreath backplates. Chippendale, on the other hand, kept pace with the latest fashions, and used neoclassically influenced castings for some of his handles, as in the present example.
