ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN COBB, CIRCA 1765-1770

This commode is designed in the George III French ‘pittoresque’ style. Of bombé form and enriched with gilt-bronze mounts, which contrast so effectively with the richly-figured mahogany timbers, it was executed by John Cobb (1715-78), who together with his partner, William Vile (circa 1700-67), held a Royal warrant from 1761-64 as ‘Cabinet makers and Upholsterers to His Majesty King George III’ to supply furniture under the direction of the Great Wardrobe to St James's Palace and The Queen's House (now Buckingham Palace) (1). This commode was probably executed by Cobb after 1764 when he worked as an independent cabinet-maker. It is closely related to a pair of mahogany commodes from Blickling Hall, Norfolk, and another sabicu and padouk commode at Alscot Park, Warwickshire, by Cobb, that date from the mid-1760s, and for which bills exist.

JOHN COBB (1715-1778)

The commode can be securely attributed to Cobb on the basis of specific constructional and stylistic features. In a series of articles on Cobb’s contemporary, Pierre Langlois (active 1754-81), the furniture historians Peter Thornton and William Rieder suggested that the distinctive ‘Corsham Group’ of commodes (to which the present lot relates) should be attributed to Cobb. Although, discussing commodes with doors, they noted that the apron on a Cobb commode forms an integral part of the doors in the French manner and is thus divided in two when the doors are opened while Langlois’s aprons are fixed to the carcase’ (2). Similarly, the apron on a Cobb commode with drawers, as in this example, is formed from a sans traverse lower drawer, in the French manner, rather than the apron forming part of the carcase, which is more typical of English pieces. The sans traverse lower drawer combined with a moulded banding on the apron, appears to be individual to Cobb. This can be found on a pair of bombé commodes at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, almost certainly supplied by Cobb to John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire; in 1762, Cobb received an unspecified payment of £86 from the Earl (3). Another commode of virtually identical profile, but in padouk, sold Christie’s, London, 14 November 1996, lot 120 (£51,000 incl. premium). Other commodes of this profile sold Sotheby's, London, 12 June 2002, lot 63 (£182,650 incl. premium), 5 July 1996, lot 61 (£155,500 incl. premium).
Cobb was one of the finest craftsmen of the mid-18th century, celebrated for the quality of his cabinetry, including commodes. In later life, he became renowned for marquetry furniture; in 1775, Hester Thrale (Mrs. Piozzi) describing the inlaid floors at Sceaux, outside Paris, for her journal Observations and Reflections … through France, Italy and Germany (1789) noted: ‘the floor of every Chamber is finished like the most high prized Cabinet which Mr Cobb can produce to captivate the Eyes of his Customers’ (4). The pinnacle of his marquetry work includes the satinwood- veneered commode with side panels, with Paul Methuen’s arms quartering those of his wife Catherine Cobb, and matching pedestals at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, supplied to Methuen in 1772-74 (5). However, from 1751, during his partnership with Vile, and from 1764, in the early years as an independent craftsman, he was making furniture in plain mahogany, rosewood, padouk and sabicu.

Cobb, a near-neighbour to Chippendale in St. Martin’s Lane, would have known Chippendale and his pattern book, The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754, 1755 and 1762), which included designs for ‘French Commodes’ and ‘Commode Tables’. In addition, Cobb, similarly to Chippendale in November 1769, was accused in 1772 and 1773 of the malpractice of illegally importing furniture from France by using the diplomatic bag of the Venetian resident, Baron Berlindis, and the Neopolitan Minister, Count Pignatelli, in order to avoid import duty (6). Therefore, on the assumption that this was a long-standing practice, he must have been fully conversant with the latest French models.

THE PROVENANCE

This commode is one of three at Harewood House, Yorkshire, that can be attributed to John Cobb. Although, it is uncertain when the commodes entered the collection it is interesting to note that Cobb was prolific in Yorkshire in the 1760s with commissions including: in 1767, Lord Langdale at Holme Hall; in 1768, Bacon Frank at Campsall Hall, and the same year, John Spencer at Cannon Hall, and in 1768-70, John Battie at Cusworth Hall (7). The Bacon Frank archive reveals that Cobb was in correspondence with his patron on 2 July 1763 and 28 July 1768 regarding the non-payment of his account, while in 1764 and 1772, Frank, who evidently knew Edwin Lascelles, was exchanging letters with him.

THE ORMOLU MOUNTS

Indicative of both Cobb’s creative process and his awareness of printed designs, the distinctive pattern for the finely-chased gilt-metal drawer handles of the present commode can be compared to a design in a mid-18th century metalworker’s pattern book, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (8). Identical mounts can be found on other furniture by or attributed to Cobb: on a closely related commode, supplied in 1766 by Cobb, to James West for Alscot Park, Warwickshire, described as an: ‘Extra fine wood Commode chest of drawers with large Handsome wrought Furniture, good brass locks to do. £16’ (9); on a commode in the Blue Silk Dressing Room at Burghley House, Northamptonshire; on a commode in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Gift of Irwin Untermyer), 64.101.1142, and on a pair of lacquer commodes attributed to Cobb, supplied to Anthony Ashley, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury for St Giles's House, Dorset, sold 'The Property of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Christie's, London, 11 November 1999, lot 100 (£276,500 inc. premium).

(1) Some of Vile & Cobb's most celebrated commissions are discussed by G. Beard, 'Vile & Cobb, Eighteenth Century London Furniture-makers', Antiques, June 1990, pp. 1394-1405.
(2) ‘Pierre Langlois, Ébéniste’, Connoisseur, part 5, May 1972, p. 32.
(3) NT 354321-2.
(4) Ed. G. Beard, C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers: 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 182.
(5) L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 91, no. 7.
(6) C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 37.
(7) Beard, Gilbert, op. cit.
(8) E.2281-1910, no. 1481.
(9) H. Honour, Cabinet Makers and Furniture Designers, London, 1972, p. 112; M. Girouard, ‘Alscot Park, Warwickshire’, Country Life, 16 May 1958, pp. 1065-6, fig. 5.