Commode
possibly Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1770
Materials
Mahogany, Deal, Oak, Brass
Measurements
90 x 129 x 65 cm
Place of origin
St. Martin's Lane
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959782
Summary
A mahogany and gilt metal-mounted serpentine commode, English, possibly supplied by Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner) or Chippendale, Haig & Co. (fl. 1771 - 1779) to Nostell Priory, circa 1770. Of two short and three graduated long drawers, all cockbeaded. The crossbanded top with moulded edge. The angles mounted with plaques cast with tendril-wrapped reeds and acanthus terminating in scroll-cast feet. The back paneled. ---
Full description
This fine quality commode is only 'possibly' by Thomas Chippendale because it cannot be positively identified in surviving accounts. It could be the commode invoiced on 23rd April 1770 as 'a very large mahogany Commode' which cost £7, 17s, 6d. It may also be the commode which Rowland Winn called 'Lady Winn's Commode' in a letter to Thomas Chippendale dated 4th October 1770, and which was having to be returned because it was 'too large for the place tho' you measur'd it.' See also the other commodes at Nostell Priory, NT 959741 and NT 959737. Another commode which appears in the correspondence between Rowland Winn and Chippendale - a 'Compass front Commode' which cost £7, 7s, 0d - might also be one and the same as this commode. It has been pointed out that this commode's handles (which are the original) are identical to others on pieces which are documented as being by Chippendale. (Entry adapted by Megan Wheeler, February 2018)
Provenance
Possibly purchased by Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet and thence by descent until accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of death duties on the estate of Rowland Winn, 4th Baron Oswald (1916 - 1984), in 1986.
Makers and roles
possibly Thomas Chippendale (fl. 1766 - 1771 when operating without a business partner), cabinet maker possibly Chippendale, Haig & Co. (fl. 1771 - 1779), cabinet-maker
References
Gilbert (1978): Christopher Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale (1978), 2 volumes., Vol. I, pp. 174 & 190; Vol. II, Figures 227 & 263. Boynton and Goodison, 1969: Lindsay Boynton and Nicholas Goodison. “The furniture of Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory.” Burlington Magazine III June 1969: pp.350-60., p. 359, Figure 30 Boynton and Goodison, 1968: Lindsay Boynton, and Nicholas Goodison. “Thomas Chippendale at Nostell Priory.” Furniture History 4 (1968): pp.10-61., pp. 28, 54 Coleridge, 1968: Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale furniture: the work of Thomas Chippendale and his Contemporaries in the Rococo Taste. London: Faber, 1968., Plate 235