A couple of doors down...

[Paul K. Murphy]

from Thomas Chippendale, one would find the shop of William Vile.

[Pink Floyd]

While I can appreciate the skill it took to make that, I think it's fugly.

[Paul K. Murphy]

I remember when I requested a few days vacation to do important things.
On the phone, I told my supervisor that my father was in the hospital. He was there because I had called 911 in the middle of the night. I told my supervisor that my father had to undergo life saving surgery, and I needed a little time away from work. Without a moment's hesitation, my supervisor said, "Well, he'll probably die anyway."
Nice first post dude.

[Bill Holt]

Pink Floyd said:

---

While I can appreciate the skill it took to make that, I think it's fugly.

---

I am in such awe...I do not have the ability to fully appreciate the skill it took......

Oh how I wish I could have watched!

[Paul K. Murphy]

Some small tidbits of fact regarding this commode (in the Royal Trust Collection, Great Britain):
This elaborately shaped commode, veneered with lustrous and richly figured golden padouk (and dark rosewood on the interior drawers), inlaid on the top with finely engraved brass and fitted with lavish mounts of chased gilt brass, expresses very clearly the manner in which French rococo design of the 1740s and 1750s was adapted to suit English taste. Furniture pattern-books such as Thomas Chippendale’s Director, published in three editions between 1754 and 1762, were extremely influential in promoting this taste: the third edition includes a ‘Commode Table’ of markedly similar design to this piece. The probability is that this commode was made by William Vile in the relatively brief period in the early 1760s when he held the royal warrant and supplied a great deal of expensive new furniture for the young King and Queen at St James’s Palace and the Queen’s House. Vile’s workshop, while not generally considered innovatory in matters of design, evidently mastered this fashion very quickly, especially when supplying Queen Charlotte, whose personal taste seems to have been more adventurous than the King’s. Although no clearly recognisable documentation has come to light, Vile’s first bill for furnishing Queen Charlotte’s apartments at St James’s included two pieces of furniture (one for the Bedroom, the other for the Wardrobe) which were evidently of similar design to no. 266. Each was described as ‘a fine Large Comode Chest of Drawers . . . Neat Wrot Brass feet and Ornaments up the Corners finished with Gold Lacquer’ and cost £25. The only direct parallel to this piece is a pair of undocumented commodes of very similar form, said to have belonged to George III’s Prime Minister, Lord Grenville (1759-1834) - or perhaps more likely to his father George Grenville (1712-70), who was also Prime Minister. These, which are now divided between the Victoria and Albert Museum and Temple Newsam House, Leeds, have the same highly distinctive pierced angle mounts and very similar foot mounts. Catalogue entry adapted from George III & Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste, London, 2004

Provenance

Probably made for Queen Charlotte. It was in the Queen's Audience Chamber since 1868.

[Paul K. Murphy]

Number 7 would be Thomas Chippendale's shop
Number 6 would be Vile and Cobb (John Cobb was William Vile's partner)

If you were walking down the street, Chippendale's shop to your right, to your left would be Slaughter's Coffee House. If you had enough time, it would be a good idea to stop in there. A lot of interesting folks patronized that establishment. It depends on the settings of your time machine, but if the time was right, you might see Chippendale himself among the various other patrons talking about a new book he had an idea to publish. He might be in Slaughter's with Darly, who did the engravings for him. He might be in there with Johnson, or Locke, two of his carvers. He might be sharing some of his drawings with them, telling them that the book needed this, or that drawing. If I had a time machine like you, you very likely would see me there too. If you can, take the time to visit Slaughter's coffee house.
Since you don't have the time, you'd keep going, and just a few doors down you'd be at Vile and Cobb.




<edit>
Understand. Within my story there are anachronisms. I'm condensing.

[daddo]

Pink Floyd said:

---

While I can appreciate the skill it took to make that, I think it's fugly.

---

The word I'm looking for might be "Overwhelming", "Loud", Overdone", "too much", "too strong", but not ugly. Of course if it sat in my living room, it is the living room that would suddenly look ugly.

[Paul K. Murphy]

I've been a cabinetmaker for a very long time, and as such, I am a practitioner of the decorative arts. I've often wondered why modern people, my peer group, have such negative reactions to historic pieces. I have to hold back my strongest feelings, because to me, it seems like children who won't eat their vegatables.
If somebody sees a Louis XIV bureau, they are usually immediately seized with a compulsion to tell me they don't like ornate, floral detailing like that. I'm struck by irony if that same person is wearing a Hawaiian shirt. "You're walking around looking like a botanical garden, and you don't like ornate, flowery things?", I think to myself.
I think the answer is relevance to the times one lives in. In a Loius XIV setting, ornaments of Louis XIV type are desirable, and seem reasonable. Similarly, in a Louis XIV setting, people tattooing themselves until they look like the funny papers would be horrifying. If I'm walking down the street today, I see Mr. Funny Papers all the time. He's probably driving the truck with the painting of the Aztec warrior carrying the chick with the big hair in front of a pyramid and an Aztec calendar.
Ornate decorations are all around us, but they are chosen by consumers of our times to reflect modern tastes.
P.S. I know that hair ain't the only big thing that painted chick has, but it's Woodnet.

[Paul K. Murphy]

daddo said:

---

[blockquote]Pink Floyd said:

---

While I can appreciate the skill it took to make that, I think it's fugly.

---

The word I'm looking for might be "Overwhelming", "Loud", Overdone", "too much", "too strong", but not ugly. Of course if it sat in my living room, it is the living room that would suddenly look ugly.

---

[/blockquote]

Pretty cool. If it sat in your living room, you'd be the King of England.
It's a pleasure to meet you sir. <extends hand>

[Bob10]

Pink Floyd said:

---

While I can appreciate the skill it took to make that, I think it's fugly.

---

I have to say that was my first thought as well but I wasn't going to post it. I have to say parts of the piece look pretty amazing but toss it all together not anything that would interest me