This handsome bombé commode is attributed to the St Martin's Lane cabinet-maker John Cobb (d.1778), a contemporary of Thomas Chippendale (d.1779), who formed a successful partnership with William Vile (d.1781). Together they were appointed cabinet-makers to George III in 1761 completing substantial commissions in the Royal Palaces, while also undertaking notable work for Sir Lawrence Dundas in London, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire, for the Earl of Coventry at Croome Court, Worcestershire, and others (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 181-184 and 923-928). The commode shares certain characteristics with other examples forming a cohesive group that can reasonably be attributed to Cobb.
THE DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTION
The general form of the commode relates to designs by Thomas Chippendale published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1762). Here he illustrated a series of 'French' fashioned commode tables, notably pl. LXIV, LXV and LXVI, serpentine or bombé in shape and raised on cabriole legs. The design was widely adopted by cabinet-makers who executed the commodes with ormolu or gilt-lacquered brass mounts and exotic veneers, or further embellished with ornate floral marquetry designs, very much in the manner promoted by the Parisian ébéniste Jean-François Oeben.
Similar commodes are likely to have been made by many of the most fashionable London makers including Chippendale himself, Vile and Cobb, Pierre Langlois, the French-born emigré who may have trained under Oeben and was established in Tottenham Court Road from 1759, and obscure figures such as John Carrack, August Birsch and John Bruno Guichard (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp.79-87, note 29). The popularity of the form leads to difficulties in attribution.
COBB RATHER THAN LANGLOIS
The present commode features angle mounts and scrolled sabots which are commonly associated with Langlois. Langlois shared his workshop with a bronze caster and gilder, Dominique Jean, and it was Jean that supplied mounts for Langlois' furniture, but he certainly also supplied them to other cabinet-makers. For a further commode attributed to Cobb, which likewise incorporated typical Langlois mounts, see that sold Christie’s, London, The Exceptional Sale, 5 July 2012, lot 31.
THE NORFOLK HOUSE GROUP
Among commodes that are clearly related to the present lot - each of similar outline, with two short and two long drawers - is a pair formerly at Norfolk House, London, and illustrated in Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl. 234. The Norfolk House commodes include the additional enrichment of a gilt-brass gadrooned edge moulding and an apron mount. While the handles differ, they are in the same spirit and the escutcheon mounts are identical across the group. A closely related example, with the same arrangement of drawers and apron pattern, and finely figured and crossbanded veneers, is a commode originally at Wentworth Woodhouse and now in a distinguished private collection. The angle mounts of this are also of 'Langlois-type', yet it significantly features oak-leaf drawer handles and lion mask side handles, which are highly characteristic of a group of commodes associated with John Cobb. These include one supplied by Cobb in 1766 to James West for Alscot Park, Warwickshire, and another at Burghley, Lincolnshire (L. Wood, op. cit., pp. 50 - 51, figs. 35 and 36). Another, clearly associated with John Cobb and featuring lion mask handles to the side, but with 'French' drawer handles was exhibited by Norman Adams Ltd., at the Art Treasures Exhibition, Bath, 1958. These commodes, together with the example sold Christie’s, London, The Exceptional Sale, 5 July 2012, lot 31, are the richest iteration of the form. For more restrained versions, akin to the present commode but with ribbon-tied paterae and husk-festoon handles, see the commode featured on the cover and illustrated in the 2017 Ronald Phillips: Fine Antique English Furniture catalogue (pp. 72-73, no. 30) and that sold Christie's, London, 5 April 2022, lot 302.