english furniture

New Record Set For Most Expensive Piece Of English Furniture

Filed under: Auctions

A piece of furniture believed to be crafted by Thomas Chippendale and dating to circa 1770 has set a new record for any piece of English furniture sold at auction. The Harrington Commode was sold by Sotheby's London on December 7 bringing in £3,793,250 ($5,980,438), over three times its estimate. The price trumped the previous record set in June 2008 over at Christie's for a George II Parcel-Gilt Padouk Cabinet-on- Stand also attributed to Thomas Chippendale, which sold for £2,729,250 ($5,324,763).

The battle over the Harrington Commode took about 15 minutes. Commenting on the sale, Henry House, Head of English Furniture at Sotheby's and the auctioneer for the sale, commented: "This remarkable commode which is outstandingly beautiful in both form and condition, was keenly contested by five bidders, the final price demonstrating true demand in the market for items of real quality, and one which I feel is justly deserved for an item that has been an honour to sell."

The Harrington Commode was previously at Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire and was sold by order of the Trustees of the 10th Earl of Harrington's Will Trust as part of the Important Furniture, Ceramics, Clocks, Silver & Vertu sale. The sale made a total of £6,216,750 against a pre-sale estimate of £2,874,000 - £4,403,000.

Tags: english furniture, most expensive, most expensive furniture, sothebys, thomas chippendale