Oliver Cornish
Sale Coordinator for Furniture, Sculpture, Rugs & Tapestries
Lot 265TP,Y
A George III ormolu mounted padouk and rosewood serpentine commode attributed to Pierre Langlois (1718-1767) Circa 1765
4 – 15 April 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, Knightsbridge£2,500 - £3,500
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Thomas Moore
Head of Department
A George III ormolu mounted padouk and rosewood serpentine commode attributed to Pierre Langlois (1718-1767)
Circa 1765
The moulded top with a quarter veneered central reserve panel, the two short and two long graduated drawers with scrolling foliate handles, escutcheons and pierced C-scroll rocaille angle mounts with husk pendants, on pierced sabot feet, inlaid throughout with purplewood bandings, spandrels and stringing, 123cm wide x 59cm deep x 85cm high, (48in wide x 23in deep x 33in high)
The moulded top with a quarter veneered central reserve panel, the two short and two long graduated drawers with scrolling foliate handles, escutcheons and pierced C-scroll rocaille angle mounts with husk pendants, on pierced sabot feet, inlaid throughout with purplewood bandings, spandrels and stringing, 123cm wide x 59cm deep x 85cm high, (48in wide x 23in deep x 33in high)
Footnotes
Provenance
Formerly belonged to the Hon. John Murray of Edinburgh, circa 1820.
Subsequently with Samuel Spencer Esq.
Sold Christie's, London, 24 June 1982, lot 115.
Sold Christie's, London, 26 January 2011, lot 99.
A similar commode, albeit a smaller model than the present lot, was offered for sale Bonhams, London, 12 July 2023, Fine Decorative Arts, lot 49. Four further related commodes, which are also attributed to Pierre Langlois, have sold at Christie's; London, 27 November 2003, Important English Furniture, lot 79; New York, 25 April 2008, Important English Furniture, lot 65; New York, 7 June 2012, 500 Years: Decorative Arts, lot 20; and London, 10 November 2021, Mackinnon: Fine Furniture, lot 138.
Each one of these commodes, including the current example, has a number of shared characteristics such as: a similar bombe serpentine form, a quarter veneered top with a moulded edge, half or quarter veneered tablets, triple tablet inlay to the drawer fronts and a shaped apron which is separate from the bottom drawer. Added to this, and perhaps most significantly, all of the commodes show distinctive signs of French construction. In regards to the above, the drawer linings are very much constructed in the French manner.
Langlois' work was identified and discussed in a pioneering series of five articles by P. Thornton and W. Rieder in "The Connoisseur", published between December 1971 and May 1972. Born to French emigré parents, and probably trained in the Parisian workshop of the ébéniste, Jean-Francois Oeben, the French Rococo inspiration is very evident in his work. Also, the typically French Rococo ormolu mounts were probably supplied by the bronze-founder and gilder, Dominique Jean (c. 1736-1812), who was both son-in-law and business associate of Langlois.