A Late Louis XV Ormolu-Mounted Tulipwood And Marquetry Commode by Louis Moreau and Léonard Boudin, circa 1765 . Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012 

The shaped breche d'alep marble top above a Greek key mounted frieze and a pair of drawers inlaid sans traverse with a musical trophy over a shaped apron, the sides inlaid with ribbon-tied bouquets, the angles mounted with swag-draped acanthus, on cabriole legs mounted with paw sabots: 34 in. (86.5 cm.) high, 54 in. (137 cm.) wide, 21½ in. (54.5 cm.) deep . Lot 164. Estimate $150,000 - $250,000

Provenance: The Earls of Normanton, Somerley, Hampshire, sold Christie's, London, 16 July 1925, lot 36 (To Founès)
With Founès, Paris.
Sir Robery Abdy, 5th Bt. (1896-1976).
Thence by descent to his son Sir Valentine Robert Duff Abdy, 6th Bt.
Acquired from Segoura, Paris. 

Notes.

Louis Moreau maître in 1764.
Léonard Boudin maître in 1761.

This spectacular commode, with its bold à la grecque frieze and richly inlaid musical and floral trophy panels, has formed part of two great English aristocratic collections.

The first was that of the Earls of Normanton, where it formed part of the furnishings of their country residence Somerley in Hampshire. It was likely to have been acquired by Welbore Ellis, 2nd Earl of Normanton (1778-1868), brother-in-law of the 12th Earl of Pembroke, himself a noted collector of French furniture. Lord Normanton acquired Somerley in 1828. It was originally built in 1792-95 to designs by Samuel Wyatt for Daniel Hobson, a Manchester manufacturer. Lord Normanton created the remarkable Picture Gallery at Somerley around 1850 and the extraordinary collection of old masters, French furniture and objects of art he had assembled are recorded by James Digman Wingfield and Joseph Rubens Powell in their atmospheric views of 1853 showing the Picture Gallery at Somerley (J. Cornforth, English Interior 1790-1848, The Quest for Comfort, London 1978, p. 84, figs. 94 and 95). The views show the diversity of Lord Normanton's taste and the great treasures he assembled, including the Madonna and Child by Parmigianino, now in the National Gallery, Titian's Venus and Adonis, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, the famous table, with a petrified wood top from Marie-Antoinette's Méridienne at Versailles and the pietra dura casket-on-stand containing a Berlin porcelain cabaret from George Watson Taylor's sale at Erlestoke in 1832. Waagen writing after his visit in 1854 commented on the good proportions, the rich tasteful quality of the decorations and the excellence of the furniture (Waagen, supplement vol., p. 363 ff, Palaces of Art, Art Galleries in Britain 1790-1990, Dulwich Picture Gallery, November 1991-March 1992, no. E.4.) 
Following its sale in 1925, the commode was later acquired by Sir Robert Abdy, Bt. (1896-1976) who with his second wife Lady Diana furnished houses in Paris and in England (Newton Ferrers in Cornwall) with a rich ensemble of mainly French furniture and works of art, all assembled with a confident, adventurous taste. The collection included superb works by important ébénistes such as Leleu and BVRB, combined with sculptures by Pajou and Houdon, pictures by Winterhalter and a significant library. His eye was particularly drawn to the avant garde neo-classicism of the goût grèc, as on the superb fauteuil by Delanois inspired by designs of Jean Louis Prieur, later sold from the collection of Karl Lagerfeld, a taste which is certainly reflected in the purity of form of this impressive commode. 

Christie's. 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe Including Oriental Carpets. 7 June 2012 . New York, Rockefeller Plaza