Commode painted oak, walnut or fruitwoods, with carved decoration, typical of French provincial furniture. In the English-speaking world, "commode" passed into cabinet-makers' parlance in London by the mid-eighteenth century to describe chests of drawers with gracefully curved fronts, and sometimes with shaped sides as well, perceived as being in the "French" taste. Thomas Chippendale employed the term "French Commode Tables" to describe designs in "The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Director" (1753), and Ince and Mayhew illustrated a "Commode Chest of drawers", plate xliii, in their "Universal System of Household Furniture", 1759–62. John Gloag notes that "Commode" expanded to describe any piece of
Robert Erickson (furniture designer) Tor is now a full partner in the business of Erickson Woodworking. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Racine Museum of Art. http://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/57188 Robert Erickson (furniture designer) Robert Erickson (born Lincoln, Nebraska 1947) is an American furniture designer and woodworker in Nevada City, California. He is a studio maker, who custom designs chairs and other furniture. His work is in several U.S. national collections. After leaving University of Nebraska with an English degree in 1969, Erickson traveled to Druid