Chippendale commode for sale

[Nigel Watts]

This gorgeous thing is coming up for sale shortly at Sotheby's with an estimate of £600,000 to £1m. Almost certainly by Chippendale.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Yes, I'd like that please. With boxes and boxes of Turkish delight inside.

What an incredibly lovely piece, so very detailed and dainty. What work takes place now, that can match it?

 

[Schoolmarm]

Step away from the auction Nigel!!!

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm ducking for cover even as I type but, whilst I have nothing but astonishment and admiration for the skills of the craftsmen who create such masterpieces, as an object it really does nothing for me and I'm afraid I wouldn't pay £600 for it, never mind £600,000 (well, maybe as an investment, but certainly not as a piece of actual furniture).

Sorry.

 

[Pford75]

I'm with FF....seems overly 'fussy' and whilst no doubt requiring huge skill to make....I prefer less ornamentation and simpler lines

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well, it isn't for the likes of us anyway. Chippendale designed for places like Burton Constable Hall, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Constable_Hall - and I hope this piece finds a home in an equally important place.

 

[Nigel Watts]

I hope this piece finds a home in an equally important place.

Unlikely I fear. More likely a museum or an architecturally inadequate interior of some billionaire collector's apartment.

 

[Feltwell]

I'm with FF & Pford, it does nothing for me - although I do admire the skill necessary to create such an object. Even if aesthetically it is to your liking - no rights or wrongs there, only opinions - £600k to £1m is an obscene amount of money for any piece of furniture to be worth, no matter how rare. I do think whoever buys that will undoubtedly have more money than sense.

 

[JoceAndChris]

It isn't furniture - it's art, and history. You may as well say a Leonardo da Vinci isn't worth it as you can pick up something nice on allposters.com

 

[Feltwell]

I don't doubt it's art and history credentials - it's the perceived financial value of it that I would question. I would say the same of any painting.

An item can be worthy in many ways other than financially.

 

[Nigel Watts]

It is the kind of furniture which only really works in the context of a very grand coordinated interior. This piece seems to be transitional between Chippendale's early rococo/chinoiserie style and his later neo-classical style. Less ornate and more restrained than French furniture of the same period yet extraordinarily rich in its own way. Poised, elegant, sculptural. I would certainly have this in preference to that £50m chinese vase. The £49m change might even be enough to buy a house fit to keep it in.

 

[Feltwell]

£50m chinese vase.

At that price, you would have thought the cheapskate auctioneers could at least have put some flowers in it .... :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

The impact and power of these precious pieces when you are actually in the room with them shouldn't be underestimated, particularly if you allowed to touch and handle - then a personal relationship develops which is quite different to a quick appraisal, often dismissal, on the Internet.

This is why auctions, and shops, are very dangerous.

This week I fell in love with a solar boat, a faïence piece of exquisite delicacy depicting a King's journey to the underworld. It was £4500, and illegal to bring into this country - ruinous - irrelevant - but tempting beyond words, spellbinding even.

Oh, give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Call me a Philistine but I'm with FF,FW and Pford.

I wouldn't dump in the thing!

I can see however, and admire, the intricacy and craftmanship.

Joce - I love the luxuries/necessities quote. Who said it?

 

[CatherineB]

Frank Lloyd Wright (no not knowledgeable, I just googled it)... and I'm right with you and Frank, Jose.

I think it's a beautiful piece of furniture, just what I'd like for my front hall, but doubtless not suitable for an Edwardian interior?

If it weren't for that drawback, I'd be there with my cheque book

 

[Feltwell]

You should count yourselves lucky that we don't all like it. It could have pushed the price up terribly when it came to auction!

Where is that spare £1m I had laying around? Has it gone down the back of the sofa again?

 

[Nigel Watts]

It went for £3.8m

The top end of the art and antiques market seems to have gone crazy.

 

[CatherineB]

pipped at the post

 

[FamilyWiggs]

It went for £3.8m

What a shame Nigel.

Still there's always Matt's putty lamp instead, which has rocketed to £2.2 now with three and a half days still to go.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Putty-lamp-removes-old-putty-during-window-restoration-/270678576264?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f05b34c88#ht_2375wt_1001

 

[robgil]

13 quid postage is a bit of an over estimate isnt it? uninsured , estimated 6 to 8 working days?