8th Dec, 2015 10:00
THE WINTER COUNTRY HOUSE
423
A George III inlaid partridgewood Pembroke table
attributed to Mayhew and Ince, the top inlaid with a garland of flowers, around a central patera within inlaid spandrels and crossbanding, the square tapering legs inlaid with panels of fiddle back and a variant of the same can be found inlaid on pier tables made for the Earl of Caledon and in carved relief on a mahogany cabinet at Blenheim. Perhaps the closet analogy occurs in marquetry on a pair of small cabinets in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (55.115.46/6).
Another characteristic feature of Mayhew and Ince’s work is the use of contrasting drawer cockbeads, usually of ebony or ebonised wood. It is not clear whether the cockbead was originally ebonised in the present case. The primary veneer used here is harewood (rippled or ‘fiddle-back’ sycamore, stained with iron), commonly used as a ground for marquetry by several London firms. Mayhew and Ince called this wood ‘silverwood’, which gives a clear hint as to its original colour, now faded to brown. mahogany,
62cm wide
66cm deep
72cm high
Provenance: The table is mentioned in an inventory of household furniture and effects of the late Mr William Loose of No 7 Sloane Square in the Parish of St. Lukes, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, valued for Administration by Order of the Executors.
The valuation was prepared by Mr William Smith, Auctioneer and Valuer, 23 Guildford Place, Clerkenwell on 26 October 1840 where it is described as ‘A handsome inlaid Pembroke table’.
A copy of this inventory will be sold with the table
The high quality of materials, construction and decoration indicate that this table is the product of a first-class furniture workshop. In particular, it has a number of affinities with documented or attributed furniture from the London firm of Mayhew and Ince, whose partnership lasted from 1758 until 1804. Although references to Pembroke tables occur frequently in the firm’s surviving bills, few documented examples are extant, so attributions rest primarily on similarities with other forms, such as commodes, pier tables and pedestals.
The combination of stylised neoclassical ornament with delicately executed naturalistic floral marquetry seems to have been a Mayhew and Ince leitmotif, occurring frequently on work executed for a diverse range of clients. The layout of the top, with a central patera flanked by smaller supporting paterae, is found on an attributed Pembroke table at Saltram House, Devon. It also occurs on the tops of commodes either by or attributed to Mayhew and Ince at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Burghley House and elsewhere. The central patera is set within concentric rings of decoration, while the two flanking paterae are hung from ribbons. Both these features are characteristic of Mayhew and Ince’s work.
The hinged leaves have intertwined chains of leaves or husks, graduated in size; these occur on a pair pedestals made for the Earl of Kerry (now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight),
Sold for £17,000
Condition Report
Not a reproduction - George III.
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Auction: THE WINTER COUNTRY HOUSE, 8th Dec, 2015
Viewing
4 December 2015 9.00am - 5.00pm
6 December 2015 10.00am - 1.00pm
7 December 2015 9.00am - 5.00pm
8 December 2015 from 9.00am
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