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拍品專文
The 18th century taste for exotic Chinese-inspired interiors was embraced from the 1750s by almost all of the principal metropolitan cabinet-makers, foremost amongst them being William and John Linnell, Thomas Chippendale and Pierre Langlois. Whimsical ‘India japanned’ imitations of Chinese design and decoration were provided by Linnell to Badminton as early as 1752-4, and japanned and lacquer furniture by Chippendale was supplied to all of his principal commissions - including the Earl of Dumfries at Dumfries House in 1759, Sir Edward Knatchbull at Mersham-le-Hatch in 1769, Sir Rowland Winn at Nostell Priory in 1771 and, most lavishly for Edwin, 1st Baron Harewood at Harewood House from the 1770-74. While European-japanned objects remain iconic examples of more fantastical designs, the most luxurious and costly items were veneered in rich gleaming imported lacquer - as on the Getty commodes - which, owing to both rarity and cost, was often supplied by the patron himself. This was certainly the case for the Harewood House State Dressing Commode which was invoiced by Thomas Chippendale on 12 November 1773 for £30 as 'A large Commode with folding Doors vaneer’d with your own Japann with additions Japann’d to match...' (now in the Gerstenfeld Collection, Washington D.C.).
These commodes have traditionally been attributed to Thomas Chippendale. However, whilst the ornament and neoclassical language - as well as the combination of Chinese export lacquer panels and japanned decoration - do echo Thomas Chippendale’s workshop production of the 1770s, certain elements of the design and construction of these commodes, as well as the distinctive metalwork, are uncharacteristic of his oeuvre. In particular, the distinctive ram’s-mask headed full length gilt-bronze angle mounts, as well as the pieds de biche / hoof feet encasing iron supports which bear the full weight of the commode - without wooden feet behind - are extremely unusual features which are not seen on any documented Chippendale furniture. So whilst both Chippendale and Mayhew and Ince clearly recognized the interchangeable nature of 'mounts' in their pattern books for commodes - ‘the ornaments of which may be either Brass or wood gilt’ - in reality this was probably only viable in the few workshops where there was a very close working relationship between cabinet-maker and bronzier / specialist metalworker, especially where the mounts are so integral to supporting the weight of the commode.
Pierre Langlois was amongst the earliest to introduce the Parisian technique of veneering cabinets with Oriental lacquer to London and could be a potential maker. A craftsman of French descent who, by 1760, had established his workshop at Tottenham Court Road near Windmill Street, Langlois enjoyed the patronage of the Francophile patron Horace Walpole (d.1797), who transformed one of his early 18th century Chinese screens into veneer for a pair of commodes and four matching corner-cupboards, which he displayed in 1763 in the gallery at Strawberry Hill, Middlesex (indeed the creative process is mentioned in a contemporary letter to Walpole: ‘I will take my corporeal oath that three parts of the japan you gave Langlois to make into commodes is still there…’ ). It is interesting to note, therefore, that Pierre Langlois had just such a working relationship with the bronze-founder Dominique Jean – and indeed their businesses would ultimately merge. The Getty commodes are also constructed originally for marble tops – and as Lucy Wood concluded, Langlois 'was one of the few London practices at this period that demonstrably favored the use of marble tops for commodes' (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 74-78, no.5), which is certainly not the case with Chippendale’s workshop. Moreover, the distinctive gadrooned ormolu border on these tops – which would have framed the original marble top – can be seen on a group of related serpentine lacquer commodes associated with Langlois’ workshop (such as that sold from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Gutfreund, Christie’s, New York, 26-27 January 2021, lot 274).
Although no documented commissions of lacquer furniture by Ince and Mayhew are recorded, the idiosyncratic design of the mounts on these commodes closely recall those on the commode supplied to Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter for Burghley House, Lincolnshire, where it is recorded in the 1804 inventory of the State Bed Room (discussed in H. Hayward and Dr. Eric Till, Country Life, 7 June 1973 and in the forthcoming publication by H. Roberts and C. Cator, Industry and Ingenuity, The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, 2022). It too is adorned with full-length angle mounts headed by swagged ram’s heads and pieds de biche. Moreover the same gadrooned border that appears on the Getty commodes and the Langlois commodes cited above can also be seen on the grandest neoclassical demi lune marquetry commodes supplied by Mayhew and Ince in the 1770s, including those supplied to Robert Birch for Turvey House, County Dublin (sold Christie’s, London, 5 July 2002, lot 33). At the very least, this may therefore suggest the hand of the same bronzier.
These commodes have traditionally been attributed to Thomas Chippendale. However, whilst the ornament and neoclassical language - as well as the combination of Chinese export lacquer panels and japanned decoration - do echo Thomas Chippendale’s workshop production of the 1770s, certain elements of the design and construction of these commodes, as well as the distinctive metalwork, are uncharacteristic of his oeuvre. In particular, the distinctive ram’s-mask headed full length gilt-bronze angle mounts, as well as the pieds de biche / hoof feet encasing iron supports which bear the full weight of the commode - without wooden feet behind - are extremely unusual features which are not seen on any documented Chippendale furniture. So whilst both Chippendale and Mayhew and Ince clearly recognized the interchangeable nature of 'mounts' in their pattern books for commodes - ‘the ornaments of which may be either Brass or wood gilt’ - in reality this was probably only viable in the few workshops where there was a very close working relationship between cabinet-maker and bronzier / specialist metalworker, especially where the mounts are so integral to supporting the weight of the commode.
Pierre Langlois was amongst the earliest to introduce the Parisian technique of veneering cabinets with Oriental lacquer to London and could be a potential maker. A craftsman of French descent who, by 1760, had established his workshop at Tottenham Court Road near Windmill Street, Langlois enjoyed the patronage of the Francophile patron Horace Walpole (d.1797), who transformed one of his early 18th century Chinese screens into veneer for a pair of commodes and four matching corner-cupboards, which he displayed in 1763 in the gallery at Strawberry Hill, Middlesex (indeed the creative process is mentioned in a contemporary letter to Walpole: ‘I will take my corporeal oath that three parts of the japan you gave Langlois to make into commodes is still there…’ ). It is interesting to note, therefore, that Pierre Langlois had just such a working relationship with the bronze-founder Dominique Jean – and indeed their businesses would ultimately merge. The Getty commodes are also constructed originally for marble tops – and as Lucy Wood concluded, Langlois 'was one of the few London practices at this period that demonstrably favored the use of marble tops for commodes' (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 74-78, no.5), which is certainly not the case with Chippendale’s workshop. Moreover, the distinctive gadrooned ormolu border on these tops – which would have framed the original marble top – can be seen on a group of related serpentine lacquer commodes associated with Langlois’ workshop (such as that sold from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Gutfreund, Christie’s, New York, 26-27 January 2021, lot 274).
Although no documented commissions of lacquer furniture by Ince and Mayhew are recorded, the idiosyncratic design of the mounts on these commodes closely recall those on the commode supplied to Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter for Burghley House, Lincolnshire, where it is recorded in the 1804 inventory of the State Bed Room (discussed in H. Hayward and Dr. Eric Till, Country Life, 7 June 1973 and in the forthcoming publication by H. Roberts and C. Cator, Industry and Ingenuity, The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, 2022). It too is adorned with full-length angle mounts headed by swagged ram’s heads and pieds de biche. Moreover the same gadrooned border that appears on the Getty commodes and the Langlois commodes cited above can also be seen on the grandest neoclassical demi lune marquetry commodes supplied by Mayhew and Ince in the 1770s, including those supplied to Robert Birch for Turvey House, County Dublin (sold Christie’s, London, 5 July 2002, lot 33). At the very least, this may therefore suggest the hand of the same bronzier.