Commode
possibly Benjamin Goodison (c.1700 - 1767)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1740
Materials
Mahogany, oak and deal carcase, brass, later marble
Measurements
104.1 x 129.5 x 76.2 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 1190917
Summary
A mahogany, marble topped and brass mounted commode, English, circa 1740. With a later grey-veined white marble of breakfront outline, above a leaf carved moulding. With four long drawers with blind fret work carved to the dust boards, flanked by twin angled lion head monopodia with brass rings in each of their mouths and acanthus and scroll carved pilasters with guilloche carved detail, raised on bracket feet carved with flower head panels and acanthus corners. With engraved handle plates and asymmetrical rococo drop handles.
Full description
There are several attributions which could be associated to this commode and much debate has been had historically. Geoffrey Beard discusses this and other pieces attributed to Benjamin Goodison (fl.1719-1767) in his article Two Eighteenth Century English Furniture Puzzles re-assessed, 1993. Goodison certainly produced cabinets of this calibre, most noteably The Montagu library writing table, circa1737, attributed to him and in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, Broughton House, Northamptonshire. Another, The Ashburnham library writing table, circa 1745, is attributed to William Hallett (1707-1781). There are many comparable features with the Benningbrough commode; the lion's head monopodia, flower head carved bracket feet with spandrels and the edge mouldings are all very similar but alas not conclusive. As Beard comments, it is easy to attribute the commode to Goodison or Hallett but a third possibility is also considered in the Royal carver James Richards (d.1759) who was responsible for the carving on the Royal Barge commissioned by Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) and designed by William Kent (c.1685-1748). The handles fitted to the commode are both exceptional and unusual, they are discussed briefly in John Channon and brass inlaid furniture (fig.129) and are similar in style to a lock plate fitted to a tea chest by Landall & Gordon circa.1745 (fig.164). (James Weedon, November 2019)
Provenance
With Thomas Edwards, an antiques dealer of Crown Place, Harrogate, in April 1920 (see The Connoisseur, April 1920, No. ccxxiv). Acquired by John Hayward (d. 1983) from J. A. Lewis & Son and bequeathed to the National Trust in 1983.
Makers and roles
possibly Benjamin Goodison (c.1700 - 1767) , maker possibly William Hallett (c.1707 - 1781), cabinetmaker possibly James Richards (d. 1759), cabinetmaker
References
Beard, G., 'Two Eighteenth-Century English Furniture Puzzles Reassessed', in Studies in the Decorative Arts, Vol. I, No. I (1993), 119 - 126, Fig. 5 Coleridge, 1968: Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale furniture: the work of Thomas Chippendale and his Contemporaries in the Rococo Taste. London: Faber, 1968., Plates 5 - 6 Bowett 2009, Early Georgian Furniture 1715 - 1740 (2009), Plate 3:33 and p. 112 John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture 1730-1760. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, in association with Leeds City Art Galleries and the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993.