A PAIR OF PORTUGUESE ORMOLU-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD AND FRUITWOOD MARQUETRY COMMODES

The multi-coloured marquetry with broad ribbon-scrolled cartouches, bordered by further cartouches of flower-filled trellis relate these striking commodes to a similarly serpentine and bombé shaped pair of commodes in the Queen's dressing room in the Palace of Queluz, Lisbon. The latter pair was probably acquired at the time of Prince Don Pedro's marriage in 1760 to Princess Donna Maria Francesca (d. 1816) and is illustrated in M.I. Ferro, Queluz, The Palace and Gardens, London, 1997, p. 88. The distinct trellis reserves set against the dark kingwood or rosewood fonds which these Portuguese mid-18th century marquetry and parquetry commodes share can also be found on a pair that sold at Christie's London, 2 December 1998, lot 50 (£221,500).