M A L L E T T LO N D O N
A SET OF POLISHED STEEL FIRE TOOLS
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N E W YO R K
› THE LIECHTENSTEIN ‘GOUT
GREC’ COMMODES A set of mid 19th century polished steel fire irons with twisted wrought handles, cast and polished mounts leading to barley twist shafts, and ornamental poker head, shovel and tongs. Retaining their original stand with similar ornamentation. England, circa 1860 Height: 84.5cm/33in Width: 31cm/12in Depth: 17cm/6½in
A pair of transitional two drawer commodes veneered throughout in plum wood. The drawers are veneered sans traverse and mounted with boldly modelled gilt bronze foliate wreaths which incorporate ring handles. Scrolled foliate swags are mounted on the chamfered sides; the whole raised on cabriole legs with acanthus and scroll ormolu sabots. Branded with interlaced ‘L’s. The commodes retain their original Carrara marble tops and bear an inventory label of Schloss Feldsberg. Austria, circa 1770
F3B0279
For a comparative set from Hackwood Park, see Mallett at Bourdon House, Autumn Catalogue 1998, page 30, ref. F1I0050.
Height: 89.5cm/32in Width: 131cm/51½in Depth: 63cm/25in F3B0266
PROVENANCE
The Princes of Liechtenstein Schloss Feldsberg (Valtice), Moravia Liechtenstein Stadt Palais, Vienna. This pair of commodes are similar to the commodes ‘a la Grecque’ first produced in Paris by Jean François Oeben in the late 1750’s in the very early flowering of French neoclassicism (see F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, 1960, p.68). There is a pair of commodes of this form also in fruitwood, probably apple, with the same ormolu mounts and clearly from the same Vienna workshop, in the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg’s summer palace at Hellbrunn. .
Retaining the label of Schloss Feldsberg (left), and the interlaced L’s of the Princes of Liechtenstein (right).
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