A George III satinwood, wenge and marquetry commode circa 1780, attributed to William Gates

the demi-lune top inlaid with with a swagged urn in central oval reserve within concentric borders of marquetry and with floral sprays to the outer areas, the frieze centred with a bull's skull and inlaid with flowers over a pair of urn-inlaid cupboard doors enclosing drawers flanked by conformingly inlaid doors with shelves behind

The Collection of Claude Rotch (the majority of whose collection was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 1962).
The Collection of Leslie Dawson.
Acquired from Partridge Fine Arts, London, 13th December 1990.

M. Jourdain and R. Edwards, Georgian Cabinet-makers, rev. edn., p. 216, fig. 183.

Comparative Literature:
A commode of very similar form to the present commode, made by William Gates for the Prince of Wales Apartment in Buckingham House in 1781, is illustrated H. Clifford Smith, Buckingham Palace, London, 1930, pl.86.
M. Jourdain and R. Edwards, Georgian Cabinet-makers, London, 1946, p.165, figs.142-3.

This commode presents shrinking cracks to doors, as normal to bow fronted cabinets - one, on the left door slightly open, the right side door with repaired shrinking cracks. there are repairs and small cracks to veneers. Minor lifting of veneers to top. The inside drawers in good condition with its original handles
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present commode has the distinguished provenance of Claude D. Rotch (1789?-1962) of The Elms, Surrey. A bachelor, tea merchant and one time breeder of Chow dogs, he was a lifelong collector of 18^th century English silver and furniture. Like his contemporary Percival Griffiths, he was greatly influenced by the connoisseur, R.W. Symonds. Educated at Trinity College Cambridge, he briefly served as an honorary curator of furniture at the Fitzwilliam Museum. On his death in 1962, he bequeathed his large collection of furniture to the Victoria and Albert Museum described at the time as ‘The most remarkable single gift of English Furniture ever presented to the Museum’. Such was the calibre of his collection that many of his pieces are illustrated in  P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924-27, among other significant publications.

The form and decoration of the present commode is of a type associated with the work of William Gates, considered as one of the foremost cabinet-makers of the late 18^thcentury.

Gates is listed as cabinet-maker in St Martin`s Lane, London, 1774- after 1800. Although as with many other 18<sup>th</sup> century cabinet makers there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about him. What we do know is that he succeeded John Bradburn as a tradesman to the Great Wardrobe, his warrant from King George III being dated July 1777. His activities are recorded in the Royal Accounts between 1777 and 1783. These accounts show that he specialised in marquetry and inlaid furniture. His first recorded commission is for `a very neat mahogany cistern’ for the dining room of the Queen`s House, St James`s Park, at a cost of £8 10s. The Queen`s house was the Royal residence that was eventually to be significantly expanded and to become Buckingham Palace.

In August 1780, George, Prince of Wales, having attained the age of 18 years old, was granted by George III his own small separate establishment in the `Queen`s House’.  A new  wing had been constructed in 1776-7 and on attaining his majority the tradesmen of the Great Wardrobe were to provide new furniture both for these new rooms and also for the apartment set aside for the Prince on the East front of Windsor Castle. Gates is recorded as supplying in 1781 a 'Sattinwood writing table with a Tambour top’. This cabinet was inlaid and ornamented with the Prince of Wales feathers and cost £24 19s. Also in 1781 Gates is again recorded as supplying to the Prince of Wales `two very fine sattenwood inlaid commode tables to stand under piers, the doors, drawers and tops richly engraved with urns, vases, flowers and other ornament in wood of different colours’. Each had a writing drawer in the frieze and was priced at £80 with an additional charge of £3. 1s 6d for a protective leather cover, illustrated in Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-makers, rev. ed. 1946, pl.142. A further second pair of commodes, made by Gates for the Prince of Wales was supplied for Carlton House and were afterwards at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, illus. Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain op. cit., pl.143.

It is to the latter pair of commodes which the present lot particularly relates although close comparisons can be drawn with both pairs. Both are inlaid with large scale tall urns within oval panels as in the present lot and, in the case of the second royal pair, are of a strikingly similar overall design.  Gates was clearly familiar with the repertoire of neo-classical forms and ornament popularised by architects such as Robert Adam, James Wyatt and others but he was, it seems particularly skilled in marquetry and the shading of timbers, seen in the royal commodes, to create pictorial illusion which can also be seen in the marquetry of the present lot, suggesting Gates also as the maker.

Gates probably designed his own pieces but in at least one case he worked to a drawing supplied by the Prince of Wales probably to a design by John Yenn under the direction of  Sir William Chambers. This was in 1780 for a pair of `superb tripods or therms’ two of which were sold Christie`s London, 8^th July 1993, lot 50.

The present demi-lune commode is designed in the elegant George III `Roman Fashion' which superseded the rococo in the second half of 18th century. The semi-elliptical form and restrained decoration epitomises the style and is accentuated by finely figured wengewood and satinwood veneers. Commodes of this form were designed to be placed on the piers between windows. Hepplewhite & Co illustrates a commode of this form in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer`s Guide, published in 1788, pl. 78, the description remarking that ` This piece of furniture is adapted for a drawing room; within are shelves which answer the use of a closet or cupboard... may have one principal door in the front, or one at each end; are made of various shapes; and being used in principal rooms, require considerable elegance.The panels may be of satinwood, plain or inlaid'.

For further comparison see Sotheby`s London, Michael Lipitch, 22nd May 1998, lot 220.