Commode

A commode is any of several pieces of furniture. The word commode comes from the French word for "convenient" or "suitable", which in turn comes from the Latin adjective commodus, with similar meanings.

The term originates in the vocabulary of French furniture from about 1700. At that time, a commode meant a cabinet or chest of drawers, low enough so that it sat at the height of the dado rail (à hauteur d'appui). It was a piece of veneered case furniture much wider than it was high, raised on high or low legs and with (commode à vantaux) or without enclosing drawers.

Commodes were made by ébénistes; the French word for "cabinet-maker" is derived from ebony, a black tropical hardwood notable as a foreign luxury. The beautiful wood was complemented with ormolu (gilt-bronze drawer pulls). The piece of furniture would be provided with a marble slab top selected to match the marble of the chimneypiece.

A commode occupied a prominent position in the room for which it was intended: it stood against the pier between the windows, in which case it would often be surmounted by a mirror glass, or a pair of identical commodes would flank the chimneypiece or occupy the center of each end wall.

Bombé commodes, with surfaces shaped in three dimensions, were a feature of the rococo style called "Louis Quinze". Rectilinear neoclassical, or "Louis Seize", commodes might have such deep drawers or doors that the feet were en toupie—in the tapering turned shape of a child's spinning top. Both rococo and neoclassical commodes might have cabinets flanking the main section, in which case such a piece was a commode à encoignures; pairs of encoignures or corner-cabinets might also be designed to complement a commode and stand in the flanking corners of a room. If a commode had open shelves flanking the main section it was a commode à l'anglaise.

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