Bolney Lodge was the home of the late Patricia Coles, a well-known judge and former wife of the London furniture dealer Richard Courtney. Legend has it, the property was used by the Prince Regent and his mistress Mrs Fitzherbert as a meeting place on the London to Brighton stagecoach route. During the 1970s, when the Courtneys became custodians of Bolney Lodge, they assembled an impressive collection of English period furniture and effects.
The serpentine bombé form commode, applied with ormolu shell and acanthus leaf scroll mounts and sabots, is very similar in design to a pair of commodes commissioned by the 6th Baron Craven (1738-91) for Benham Park from Pierre Langlois who established himself as one of London's leading cabinet-makers while trading from 39 Tottenham Court Road between 1759 and 1781.
Estimated at £20,000-30,000, it was competed by ten telephone bidders before selling in the room to an agent acting for a client at £160,000 (plus 17.5 per cent buyer's premium).
