ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE, CIRCA 1775

This exceptional table reflects the George III 'Roman' fashion popularized by the architect/designer Robert Adam in the 1760s and 1770s. While Adam worked with all the major cabinet-makers of the day, an attribution to Mayhew and Ince is supported in particular by the finesse and depth of the engraved marquetry, a specialty of the firm. The drapery swag motif appears on an attributed commode at the Lady Lever Art Gallery (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 22, p. 195), while the treatment of the leafy scrolls compares to the celebrated Duchess of Manchester's cabinet at the Victoria and Albert Museum, executed to Adam's design (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, pp. 248-254, especially figs. 205-206). The broad band of Indian-satinwood, used on another Lever commode (L. Wood, op. cit., no. 26), features fashionable medallions of Roman emperors, which are clearly derived from classical coins and gems and popularized by contemporary engravers such as Gerard van der Gucht (after Rubens drawings). Wedgwood, Tassie and Boulton used similar medallions as did Chippendale at Harewood House (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, pl. 488-489). The bead-collared leafy baluster and flutelegs are not exclusive to a single firm, having derived from Adam's design of 1767 depicting a sofa for Kenwood (The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, vol. I, no. 2, 1774, pl. V). The pattern does appear on a Mayhew and Ince side table of 1785 (H. Roberts, '"Unequall'd Elegance": Mayhew and Ince's Furniture for James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon', Furniture History, 2009, pp. 106-107, figs. 3 and 5) as well as the Croome Court tapestry room seat furniture now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (G. Beard, 'Decorators and Furniture Makers at Croome Court', Furniture History, 1993, p. 113, fig. 8).