Lot Essay
The attribution of these commodes to Mayhew and Ince is based on the stylistic similarity to marquetry executed earlier by the firm and to the firm's very strong connection with the 4th Duke of Marlborough (d.1817). He was the actual owner of Whiteknights, his son Blandford being a lessee (see: M. Soames, The Profligate Duke, London, 1987, p. 77). If the financial involvement of the 4th Duke was even deeper than that, then the choice of Mayhew and Ince as cabinet-makers is less than surprising (H. Roberts, loc. cit.). They had dedicated their 1762 Universal System of Household Furniture to the 4th Duke and he employed them over many years for furniture and furnishings at Blenheim Palace. The Blenheim Steward's Book records their activities there as late as 1797, the year before the purchase of Whiteknights.
THE COMMODES
These commodes are conceived as 'pier commode-tables' with pilaster legs terminating in hermed feet. Their particularly exotic West Indian sabicu veneer is inlaid in the George III 'antique' manner. Each top is embellished with husk-entwined paterae and an oval Palmyra sunflower within an arabesque medallion. The edge is inlaid with a string of pearls in line with the 'antique' flutes in the frieze. The medallions in the top and doors derive from an engraving of the Sun God Apollo's temple that was illustrated in Robert Wood's Ruins of the Temple of Palmyra, 1753. Thus far these commodes fit neatly into a tradition of 'antique' marquetry in which Mayhew and Ince worked throughout the 1770s and 1780s. However, their actual shape is of a type that came into fashion later, during the 1790s. This raises intriguing questions about their commission. The 4th Duke was a long term client of Mayhew and Ince but his son, later 5th Duke, was only married in 1791. It is possible that these commodes were commissioned by the 4th Duke and came to be used at Whiteknights by his son. Although related elements can be found in the various editions of A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788-94, the outline relates in particular to the central section of a French-style commode illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 2nd. ed., 1794, pl. 66. It is the combination of a pair of bowed doors and pilaster sides that suggests a date in the 1790s and connects the commissioning of the commodes, however tentatively, to the 5th Duke rather than firmly to his father. Despite Sheraton's advice that such commodes were 'never intended for use but for ornament', this pair are fitted with drawers and this suggests that they were used for the Marchioness of Blandford's apartments rather than in a
drawing-room.
A slightly smaller commode of this pattern is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p. 398 and col. pl. 40 and was exhibited by Norman Adams at the Victoria and Albert Museum, International Art Treasures Exhibition, 2 March - 29 April 1962, p. 11, no. 76 and pl. 50
WHITEKNIGHTS
From his marriage in 1791, George, Marquess of Blandford, lived in rented houses in which he did as much as he could to indulge his growing passion for gardening. He was on close terms with the leading botanists of the day, including Sir Joseph Banks. In 1798 he was able to acquire Whiteknights, near Reading, and there to create a magnificent garden. This house had long been the home of the Catholic Englefield family. The last baronet, Sir Henry Charles Englefield had sold up in 1783, in disgust at 'the offensive prejudices of the neighbouring gentry'. An engraving of 1776 shows a square, white-stuccoed house, set in wooded parkland by a stretch of water. Blandford may well have altered the house because pictures of circa 1816 show the house with two great bows on the eastern side but this alteration may have happened in the years between 1783 and its acquisition for Blandford. The garden and house at Whiteknights were described as they were at the peak of Blandford's cultivation, by Mrs Hofland in her Descriptive Account of the Mansion and Gardens of White-Knights, London, 1819. The detailed descriptions of the ground floor rooms show them to have been decorated in the most fashionable styles including Egyptian, Indian and Grecian. Lord Blandford was permanently in debt and the contents of Whiteknights were first broken up in 1818-1819 after his fathers death (Soames, loc. cit., pp. 163-164). These commodes were sold in October 1819 but Blandford kept the house for several more years. The initial dispersal was far from complete; when the house itself was sold in 1828 there was a further eight day house sale which included much valuable furniture
THE COMMODES
These commodes are conceived as 'pier commode-tables' with pilaster legs terminating in hermed feet. Their particularly exotic West Indian sabicu veneer is inlaid in the George III 'antique' manner. Each top is embellished with husk-entwined paterae and an oval Palmyra sunflower within an arabesque medallion. The edge is inlaid with a string of pearls in line with the 'antique' flutes in the frieze. The medallions in the top and doors derive from an engraving of the Sun God Apollo's temple that was illustrated in Robert Wood's Ruins of the Temple of Palmyra, 1753. Thus far these commodes fit neatly into a tradition of 'antique' marquetry in which Mayhew and Ince worked throughout the 1770s and 1780s. However, their actual shape is of a type that came into fashion later, during the 1790s. This raises intriguing questions about their commission. The 4th Duke was a long term client of Mayhew and Ince but his son, later 5th Duke, was only married in 1791. It is possible that these commodes were commissioned by the 4th Duke and came to be used at Whiteknights by his son. Although related elements can be found in the various editions of A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788-94, the outline relates in particular to the central section of a French-style commode illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 2nd. ed., 1794, pl. 66. It is the combination of a pair of bowed doors and pilaster sides that suggests a date in the 1790s and connects the commissioning of the commodes, however tentatively, to the 5th Duke rather than firmly to his father. Despite Sheraton's advice that such commodes were 'never intended for use but for ornament', this pair are fitted with drawers and this suggests that they were used for the Marchioness of Blandford's apartments rather than in a
drawing-room.
A slightly smaller commode of this pattern is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p. 398 and col. pl. 40 and was exhibited by Norman Adams at the Victoria and Albert Museum, International Art Treasures Exhibition, 2 March - 29 April 1962, p. 11, no. 76 and pl. 50
WHITEKNIGHTS
From his marriage in 1791, George, Marquess of Blandford, lived in rented houses in which he did as much as he could to indulge his growing passion for gardening. He was on close terms with the leading botanists of the day, including Sir Joseph Banks. In 1798 he was able to acquire Whiteknights, near Reading, and there to create a magnificent garden. This house had long been the home of the Catholic Englefield family. The last baronet, Sir Henry Charles Englefield had sold up in 1783, in disgust at 'the offensive prejudices of the neighbouring gentry'. An engraving of 1776 shows a square, white-stuccoed house, set in wooded parkland by a stretch of water. Blandford may well have altered the house because pictures of circa 1816 show the house with two great bows on the eastern side but this alteration may have happened in the years between 1783 and its acquisition for Blandford. The garden and house at Whiteknights were described as they were at the peak of Blandford's cultivation, by Mrs Hofland in her Descriptive Account of the Mansion and Gardens of White-Knights, London, 1819. The detailed descriptions of the ground floor rooms show them to have been decorated in the most fashionable styles including Egyptian, Indian and Grecian. Lord Blandford was permanently in debt and the contents of Whiteknights were first broken up in 1818-1819 after his fathers death (Soames, loc. cit., pp. 163-164). These commodes were sold in October 1819 but Blandford kept the house for several more years. The initial dispersal was far from complete; when the house itself was sold in 1828 there was a further eight day house sale which included much valuable furniture