A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH AND BOIS CITRONNIER COMMODE

This commode, with its neoclassical form and beautiful panels of shimmering citronnier satinwood, typifies the fashion for 'French commodes' popularised in London in the 1780s by A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide. The style is associated in particular with Dominique Daguerre and Martin-Eloi Lignereux, the celebrated firm of marchand-merciers who had branches in both Paris and London. In England, the taste for this refined Louis XVI style was favoured by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, who was encouraged by Daguerre, who himself sold a related 'commode à l'Anglaise' to George, 2nd Earl Spencer (d. 1834) in 1791 (R. Spencer, Althorp, London, 1982, p. 7).

The West Dean commode relates closely to a citronnier and amaranth example stamped by the ébéniste Claude-Charles Saunier (maître in 1752), which was formerly in the collection of Christopher Gibbs, The Manor House at Clifton Hampden, Oxford, Christie's house sale, 25-26 September 2000, lot 214 (£60,950). The Saunier commode is sparsely mounted with squared handles, collars and caps to the tapering feet and simple lozenge-shaped escutcheons, illustrating the likely original ornament of the present commode, before the embellishment that is visible today. Interestingly, a further Louis XVI citronnier and amaranth commode of the same form as the present example barring its fluted rounded angles, displays identical escutcheons and foliate handle plates (property of the late Mrs Gladys Green, removed from Saidal House, Wakefield, sold Christie’s, London, 26 March 1981, lot 109, £6,000). It is possible that these identical mounts were supplied and added by the same restorer or retailer who embellished the West Dean commode in the second half of the 19th century.