Apter-Fredericks

Important 18th & 19th Century Antique Furniture

Memorable Pieces

An Outstanding & Highly Important Side Cabinet Attributed to S. Jamar
An Important George III Mahogany Library Table of Superb Colour & Quality
A Most Exceptional George III Mahogany Serpentine Fronted Chest on Chest
A Magnificent Carlton House Boulle-Inlaid Table Designed for George, The Prince of Wales, The Prince Regent,
A George III Parcel-Gilt and Painted Satinwood Pier Table
A Pair of George III Giltwood Armchairs By Thomas Chippendale
An Important Pair of Regency Period Rosewood Side Cabinets
A Pair of George III Blue John Cassolettes by Matthew Boulton
A George II Walnut Side Chair
A George III Sycamore, Tulipwood Rosewood and Marquetry Pembroke Table
An Outstanding Campana Vase in Blue John or Derbyshire Fluorspar
A Pair of Nineteenth Century Bronze and Ormolu Oil Lamps
A George III Chippendale Period Sidetable
A Rare Queen Anne Blue Japanned Bureau Cabinet
A George III Chippendale Period Carved Mahogany Commode
A Very Rare Pair of Cloisonné Cranes
Saved For The Nation
A George III Rolled Paperwork Box, decorated by Mary Earnshaw of Wakefield in 1795
A George II Period Carved Mahogany Bureau Cabinet Attributed to Giles Grendey
A George III Inlaid Occasional Table in the Manner of Pierre Langlois
A George II Period Pedestal
A Pair of George III Period Satinwood, Decorated and Parcel-Gilt Side Tables
The Spencer Perceval armchair from the Palace of Westminster
A Pierre Langlois Commode
A Pair of Robert Adam designed Giltwood Torcheres
A Rosewood and brass mounted side table by John McLean
A George III Mahogany Card Table in the Manner of Ince & Mayhew
A Jewel in the Crown of Queen Anne Furniture
An Expanding Circular Dining Table by Robert Jupe
A Fine Pair of Harewood And Inlaid Side Tables by William Gates
A Pair of Queen Anne Walnut Stools
A George II Carved Mahogany Side-table Attributed to Giles Grendey
A Very Rare Pair of Queen Anne Giltwood Border Glass Mirrors
A Regency Period Gilt, Ebonised and Decorated Wall Sconce
A Regency Period Hall Seat Attributed to George Bullock
A Pair of Georgian Dolphin 'Slab' Tables in the Manner of James Richards, after the Designs by William Kent
A George III Regency Period Convex Mirror by Thomas Fentham

The following images, taken from our archives, illustrate a small selection of pieces we have handled over the past 60 years and which have given us special pleasure and enjoyment. Either for the pieces themselves, their origins or the collections in which they have been placed.

A Pierre Langlois Commode

Height: 32" 8 Icm
Width: 49" 1m 25
Depth: 18.5" 47cm

A George III rosewood, kingwood and ormolu mounted commode of superb colour and patination and of excellent design. Of serpentine shaped with chevron bandings, the top with an oval central panel with an inlaid basket of fruit above three graduated drawers each similarly inlaid with floral sprays. The shaped sides having oval panels with inlaid flowering urns and the commode with ormolu mounts to the edge of the top, the sides and standing on ormolu sabot feet. The drawers retaining their original ormolu handles and escutcheons.

English, Circa 1765

The fashion for inlaid and ormolu enriched furniture was accentuated by the French ebeniste, Pierre Langlois. Based in Tottenham Court Road, London, from the 1750's, Langlois specialised in furniture which, according to his trade advertisement, 'enjolivee de ornement de bronze doree'.

Langlois, became the most renowned Cabinet maker of his time, bringing quality and Parisian style to English furniture. His business flourished and he enjoyed enormous success. Commissions enjoyed by Langlois included work supplied to the Royal Family, the Dukes of Northumberland and Bedford; The Earl of Coventry and the Marquis of Zetland.

Langlois's pieces differed from his French counterparts in the finish. Whereas the exterior was all important on the Continent, Langlois also treated the interiors of his pieces with pride. Hence on this example the use of expensive mahogany to line the drawers. The quality and detail of the mounts were rarely found on English furniture prior to Langlois's arrival. His use to accentuate and reflect bath the movement of the piece and the floral inlay is finely observed on this example which also benefits from the shallowness and softened serpentine front.

The superb shield-centred handles on this commode also feature on a pair of commodes which Langlois is believed to have supplied to the Earl of Shaftesbury in 1766 for the Vyne (Hampshire). Langlois shared his workshops with a metal caster and gilder named Dominique Jean and it is most likely that he supplied the metalwork for the commodes.

Literature:
Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840 Catalogue of Commodes, Lucy Wood.
Pierre Langlois, Ebeniste, Connoisseur 1972