A fine George III inlaid satinwood and tulipwood and fruitwood marquetry dressing table in the manner of Christopher Fuhrlohg circa 1775

the top fitted with a hinged flap opening to a dressing mirror and small lidded compartments.  One drawer with an Irwin Untermyer label and number 11 / F.

Collection of Irwin Untermyer

Y. Hackenbroch, English Furniture with some Furniture of Other Countries in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Cambridge, 1958, plate 286, fig. 328

Overall good condition; the back possibly originally with a back splash or some type of superstructure; some minor nicks and wear to edges with some very minor veneer patches at corners.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Executed in the transitional Louis XV/XVI neoclassical style with fine marquetry inlay slightly curved legs, the present commode shares a number of similarities to the work of the Swedish-born cabinet-maker, Christopher Fuhrlohg who was employed by John Linnell after 1767. Along with his brother in law Georg Haupt, Fuhrlohg completed his apprenticeship in Sweden and travelled via Amsterdam and Paris to London, arriving during the winter of 1766-67. He remained in Britain for the rest of his life and became cabinet maker to the Prince of Wales, for whom he worked at Carlton House between 1784-5.

The form is very similar to a commode by Christopher Fuhrlohg now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, as well as the companion pair of commodes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (illustrated, Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Art Gallery Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 106-114).  Another similar pair of commodes attributed to Fuhrlohg possibly supplied to James Forbes, 17th Lord Forbes, or Sir William Forbes, 5th Bt. Of Craigievar which sold most recently at Christie’s, London, November 24, 2005, lot 130.  The use of lozenges and intertwined foliage in the inlay is similar to a number of Fuhrlohg’s recorded pieces.  Furthermore, the use of the central elongated urn is similar to Robert Adam’s elongated urns with triple rams heads handles.  This motif – highly unusual in having an extra ram’s head to the centre of the urn - was used by Fuhrlohg on the top of an English bureau plat at Alnwick Castle (illustrated in Wood, op. cit., p.121, figs. 116-117), on a commode once in the collection of the Earls Temple (illustrated in Wood, op. cit., p.111, fig. 107), and also on the case of a piano, co-made with Frederick Beck in 1777, formerly in the Leverhulme collection and now in a private collection (illustrated in Wood, op. cit., p. 120, figs. 114-115, and in R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p.390, fig. 12.)

Fuhrlohg's own furniture and the stock-in-trade of his Gerrard Street house was sold by Christie's on 21 February 1787 and described as consisting of a 'Great variety of Elegant Mahogany and Sattin-Wood articles, curiously [finely] Inlaid, several of which are on a new Construction, such as Bookcases, Commodes...' (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 323-325).