A Large George III Mahogany Commode, Circa 1770, attributed to John Cobb

Acquired by Halsted B. Vander Poel from Arthur S Vernay, New York, 5 July 1956

Property from the Estate of Halsted B. Vander Poel, Christie's New York, 8 April 2004, lot 184

This elegant carved mahogany commode, conceived in the French taste and relating to the fashionable designs promoted by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director, may confidently be attributed to the Royal cabinetmaker John Cobb. 

John Cobb (d. 1778) is first recorded in the London Directory in 1750. He formed a successful partnership with William Vile in 1751, with workshops in St. Martin's Lane, close to those of Chippendale himself, and it is interesting to note that this commode follows Chippendale's 1753 pattern for a 'French Commode table' issued in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director of 1754, pl. XLV. Following their appointment as cabinetmakers to George III in 1761, Messrs. Vile and Cobb became the principal suppliers of furniture to Queen Charlotte's Buckingham House, now Buckingham Palace, where commissions included the celebrated jewel cabinet which remains in the Royal Collection (RCIN 35487).

The attribution to John Cobb is based on a similar but plainer commode supplied to James West of Alscot Park in 1766 and invoiced as an 'extra fine wood commode chest of drawers with large handsome wrought furniture, good brass locks, etc. £16' (H. Honour, Cabinet Makers and Furniture Designers, London 1969, p.112 and illustrated by L. Wood, Lady Lever Art Gallery Catalogue of Commodes, London 1994, p.51, fig. 35). Interestingly, the shaped sides and refined drawer construction with unusual concave quarter-fillets also appear on the pair of lacquer-veneered commodes attributed to Cobb, supplied to St. Giles's House, Dorset and sold by the Earl of Shaftesbury, Christie's London, 11 November 1999, lot 100.