An Irish George III Harewood, Tulipwood, Burr Yew and Sycamore Marquetry Demilune Commode attributed to William Moore of Dublin, Circa 1790

John Hamilton Whitcroft, Esq, Kilree House, County Kilkenny, Ireland

Hotspur Ltd., London 1976

The Property of a Gentleman, Sold Christie's London, 11 November 1999, lot 165

Sotheby's New York, 12 October 2007, lot 79 ($241,000)

William Moore of Dublin was one of the most accomplished practitioners of marquetry furniture in the British Isles during the late Georgian era, and in Ireland has been described as 'by far the most important cabinet-maker who reflected the new taste for neo-classicism and the Adam style' (The Knight of Glin and James Peill, Irish Furniture, New Haven and London 2007, p.162-166).

Possibly the son of William Moore, a cabinet maker recorded at Inns Quay and Charles Street, who died in 1759, he appears to have attended the School of Landscape and Ornament Drawing at the Dublin Society of Drawing Schools in 1768, after which he was employed in the workshop of John Mayhew and William Ince, before returning to Ireland at some time before December 1777. The firm of Mayhew and Ince is recorded in London between 1758 and 1804, and they were 'the most significant...of the major London cabinet makers of the 18^th century' (Beard & Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds 1986, p.589-99). On 10 April 1782 the Dublin Evening Post published an advertisement for Moore's 'The Inlaid Cabinet Wareroom' selling a variety of tables and case furniture, with 'every article in the Inlaid way' and informed by 'his long experience at Messrs. Mayhew and Ince, London' (R. Luddy, 'Every Article in the Inlaid Way: the Furniture of William Moore', Irish Arts Review 2002, vol.18, p.46-47). By 1791 Moore had moved to the fashionable Capel Street, where he worked until his death in 1815.

Only two works are securely attributed to Moore, a pianoforte and a commode acquired by the the 3rd Duke of Portland when Viceroy of Ireland in 1782 (now in a private collection; illustrated in Glin and Peill, fig.220 p.163). The inlaid work found on the present commode is closely related to a number of other commodes attributed to Moore including one in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York [Fig.1], which have identical trailing bellflower and honeysuckle-inlaid stiles flanking the central cupboard door. The same stiles and identical ribbon-tied trailing vine border on the top also appear on a pair of demilune commodes sold Sotheby's London, 26 November 2003, lot 60 and again Christie's London 19 November 2015, lot 600 (GBP 242,000) [Fig.2].

The overall marquetry design of these three later examples is more complex and profusely ornamental with trailing flowers, classical tripod urns and vases and acanthus scrolls, whereas the offered lot relies on a simpler and more restrained architectural and geometrical motifs for aesthetic effect. The inlaid simulated fluted frieze appears on several pier tables attributed to Moore, including one sold Sotheby's New York 18 October 2006, lot 218, and a pair currently with Hyde Park Antiques, New York. The most distinctive elements of the composition are the striking large oval reserves of burr yew on the front and sides, a choice of material that further strengthens the attribution to Moore as the use of yew has traditionally been closely associated with the production of his masters Mayhew and Ince, described by Beard & Gilbert as 'the only wholly idiosyncratic veneer wood the firm used and possibly unique to Mayhew and Ince among London cabinet-makers of this date' (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers p.593).

The fragmentary label refers to the depository of Robert Strahan & Co., an important firm of Dublin cabinetmakers, upholsterers, auctioneers, undertakers and antique dealers first recorded in 1776 and trading at various locations in Dublin until 1969; like many large furniture concerns they also offered storage services (See The Knight of Glin, 'Dublin Directories and Trade Labels', Furniture History 1985, p. 271-272). The label appears to correspond to the firms addresses in the early 20th century.

When this commode was acquired previously, the provenance was given as John Hamilton Whitcroft Esq. (1768-1843) of Kilree House, County Kilkenny, an early 19th century Regency Villa built on the estate of a 13th century monastic grange with surviving ruins of the original church. Whitcroft was the great grandfather of the playwright George Bernard Shaw.