A GEORGE III IRISH INLAID HAREWOOD D-SHAPE COMMODE BY WILLIAM MOORE OF DUBLIN CIRCA 1790

the tulipwood banded top with stringing and rayed panels of figured harewood, centered by a shaded boxwood fan medallion with pendant foliage and with a broad band inlaid with running band of scrolling tendrals, leaves and berries, the frieze fitted with a drawer and inlaid with fluting and oval panels of yew wood above a confroming central door similarly inlaid and with a central oval panel of yew wood, the sides similarly inlaid and banded, the stiles banded and with a broad panel inlaid with anthemion and sprays of stiff leaves supported on square tapered legs inlaid with stringing and with square molded toes, the back with a printed label ...TRAHAN & CO., Ltd. / ...movals and Warehousing / ...PHEN' S GREEN / PLACE DUBLIN.

John Hamilton Whitcrift, Esq., Kilree House, County Kilkenny, Ireland

With Hotspur Ltd., London, 1976

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

Good restored condition, with usual old marks, scratches and scuffs overall, and with small losse overall to the stringing and bandings, the top with slight movement following lines of construction.
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.

As The Knight of Glin and James Peill remark in Irish Furniture, Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 162-166, 'By far the most important cabinet-maker' (in Ireland) 'who reflected the new taste for neo-classicism and the Adam style was William Moore'.

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, although their actual work is not well documented, 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, 1986, pp. 589-597) .    

In 1782 he placed an advertisement in Faulkener's, Dublin Journal, addressed 'To the Nobility and Gentry' informing 'those that may want inlaid work'....that....'he has brought the manufacture of such perfection to be able to sell for almost one half its original prices; as the greatest demand is for pier Tables, he has just finished in the newest taste a great variety of patterns, sizes and prices......card tables of new construction...also small pier tables with every article in the inlaid way'. In a very similar advertisement in the Dublin Evening Post he also mentions 'his long experience at Messrs. Mayhew and Ince'.

The inlaid work found on the present commode is closely related to a number of other commodes attributed to Moore by The Knight of Glin and James Peill (op. cit.) including one in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 231), and another formerly in the collection of Lady Binning (fig. 222). Other related commodes include a pair sold Sotheby's, New York, October 20-21, 2003, and one sold Sotheby's, London, July 3, 2003, lot 35.

 

The fragmentary label, which probable dates from the third quarter of the 19^th century, is for Robert Strahan & Co., who are recorded as cabinet-makers, auctioneers and retailers in Dublin from the late 18^th century through the 19^th century (See: Furniture History, 1985, 'Dublin Directories and Trade Labels', The Knight of Glin, pp. 271-272).