Page 70 - Chinese Export Porcelain MARCHANT GALLERY 2015

44. Bulb pot of moulded bombé commode form, painted in iron-red, blue enamel and gilt, the top with five
circular apertures edged with scrolling branches in front of a high-relief flower spray, the front with four drawers with
relief imitation escutcheons and handles, all between and above rococo scrolls and shells, the largest drawer above a
monogram ‘SS’, the sides with panels containing flower sprays, with flat white glazed back and unglazed base.
7 ½ inches, 19.1 cm long, 4 ¾ inches, 12.1 cm high.
Qianlong, circa 1770.
• From an English private collection, Suffolk.
• A similar commode from J. Kugel, Paris, is illustrated by Michel Beurdeley in Porcelain of the East India Companies,
no. 107, p. 173.
• A pair with sectional covers is illustrated by William R. Sargent in The Copeland Collection, Chinese and Japanese
Ceramic Figures, the Peabody Museum of Salem, no. 110, pp. 226/7; another pair is illustrated by Maria Antónia Pinto
de Matos in The RA Collection of Chinese Ceramics, A Collector’s Vision, Volume Two, no. 284, pp. 158/9.
• This model may have been inspired by the southern French faience commodes of Montpellier and Moustiers, similar
ceramic vessels were also produced at Doccia near Florence.
• A Mennecy snuff box of this form, with Parisian silver mounts, dated to 1756-62 is illustrated by Barbara
Beaucamp-Markowsky in Porzellandosen des 18. Jahrhunderts, no. 438.
• The term ‘commode’ was borrowed from France, where it first appeared in the Dictionnaire de Travaux (1708), and
applied to a low armoire with drawers. Commodes, at first novelty and later necessity in a well-appointed drawing-
room, reached a period of exuberant styling, reflected in this ceramic example by the mid-eighteenth century.
• The monogram initials ‘SS’ indicates this piece may have been specifically ordered.

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