This commode is one of an important group which share a similar bowed and serpentine form, concave sides and shaped aprons, are veneered with Chinese lacquer panels framed by English japanned borders, and with gilt-brass angle mounts and scrolled acanthus sabots. The group was likely produced by the same cabinetmaker and include: two pairs of commodes at Uppark, Sussex, probably commissioned by Sir Matthew Featherstone, of which one pair remains at Uppark and the other sold Christie’s, London, 20 May 1971, lot 90; a pair commissioned by John, 2^nd Earl of Ashburnham for either Ashburnham Place, Sussex, or Ashburnham House, Mayfair, and most recently sold Christie’s, London, 16 November 1995, lot 67; a single commode probably commissioned by Sir John Goodricke, 5^th Baronet, at Ribston Hall, Yorkshire, sold Sotheby’s, London, 29 November 2002, lot 53; and four from the collection of the Francis Seymour, 5^th Marquess of Hertford, at Ragley Hall, Hertfordshire, all sold Christie’s, London, 1921, lots 24-26, one of which is now at Polesden Lacey, Surrey, and a further two – a pair without angle mounts – sold from the collection of Lily and Edmond Safra, Sotheby’s, New York, 3 November 2005, lot 135.
The most recent and closely related comparable from this group was sold Christie’s, London, 19 May 2016 (£110,000 inc. premium), from the collection of Mr and Mrs Jack Steinberg, formed by the renowned furniture historian R. W. Symonds. The form and gilt-brass mounts of both commodes are identical, and both have similarly decorated lacquer tops. The top of the Steinberg commode is decorated by nine roundels depicting landscapes populated by birds and other animals, and two fruit bowls on the far left and right. The present commode has six compartments containing similar landscapes and again two fruit bowls. It is therefore almost certain that the Steinberg and Lady Agnes Peel commodes were conceived as a pair.

Although the cabinetmaker cannot be identified with certainty, the commodes correspond closely to the work of Pierre Langlois, a French émigré who by 1760 had established his workshop at 39 Tottenham Court Road. Lucy Wood draws parallels between the present commode (ill. L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p. 77, fig. 65) and the commodes at Uppark and Polesden Lacey, and a further pair with more elaborate foliate mounts at Powis Castle, all of which are attributed to Langlois.
Langlois’s reputation had been established by 1759 when he began work on a commission for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey. As Langlois’ renowned continued so did his work for fashionable clientele, including the Duchess of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle, Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, and the Earl of Coventry at Croome Court. Surprisingly, only two documented pieces of furniture survive: a commode at Woburn Abbey (1760) and another from Croome Court (1764) now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [59.127]. Both the Woburn and Croome commodes are marquetry, influenced by the work of the Parisian ébéniste Jean-François Oeben with whom Langlois may have trained, rather than the lacquer of the present commode, but Thomas Mortimer’s entry for Langlois in the Universal Director, 1763, notes that he made ‘commodes in the foreign taste’, perhaps referencing his introduction of the French fashion for lacquer to the English market. Langlois’ use of lacquer reflects his interest in exotic materials, such as pietre dure, seen in a commode sold Christie’s, New York, 30 March 2021 ($270,000 inc. premium), from the collection of Mrs Henry Ford.

Although the Croome and Woburn commodes have a similar bowed and serpentine front to the present commode, their form is accentuated and their mounts more elaborate, both of which characterise Langlois’ earlier production and his association with the bronzier Dominique Jean. This association is well-documented; Langlois and Jean shared the premises on Tottenham Court Road up until 1781, when Jean took over. Jean almost certainly produced the gilt-brass mounts for Langlois’ furniture up until that point, when Langlois ceased to pay rates for the address. As a result of this, and the similarity of the mounts to other commodes attributed to Langlois, we can assume that if Langlois produced the present commode Dominique Jean likely produced the mounts.

Lady Agnes Peel (1880-1960) was the daughter of Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp and Lady Emily Annora Charlotte Pierrepont. On 6 October 1906 she married Major Hon. Arthur George Villiers Peel. Together they lived at Blount’s Court, Reading from 1933 until Lady Agnes' death in 1960.