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Lot Essay
The hall chairs have fluted medallion backs rayed from an escutcheon bearing the Midleton crest of George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton (d. 1836). They were executed in the 1770s under the direction of Sir William Chambers (d. 1796) for the entrance/banqueting hall of Peper Harow, Surrey.
The chairs, whose Palladian patera-enriched and antique-fluted rails harmonise with the hall door entablatures, are likely to have been executed by Mayhew and Ince, cabinet-makers of Golden Square and authors of The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762. The firm supplied related stone-painted chairs for Broadlands, Hampshire (see H. Roberts, 'The Ince and Mayhew Connection', Country Life, 29 January 1981, p. 289, fig. 4). These two sets share the distinctive roundel and fluted seat-rail design. Mayhew and Ince had collaborated with Chambers on various projects, including the refurbishment carried out for the 4th Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace from the late 1760s. The chairs may have been executed by the specialist carver Sefferin Alken (fl. 1744-783) under their employ as there is a considerable payment recorded from Chambers to Alken for £294 14s.9d. Chambers, Alken and John Mayhew worked together at Blenheim. Notably, Alken collaborated with Chambers on the celebrated medal cabinet executed for the 1st Earl of Charlemont for Charlemont House, Dublin and now at Somerset House, London. He worked extensively with many of London's top cabinet-making firms, often providing furniture to the designs of Robert Adam. He was employed for the specialist carving on chairs, similarly fluted, supplied by John Cobb at Croome Court in 1765 to Adam's designs. In Alken's collaboration with Cobb, his work was accounted for as part of Cobb's invoice ('carving all the arms and front feet, all the rest carved by Mr. Alken', see C. Musgrave, Adam and Hepplewhite and other Neo-Classical Furniture, 1966, fig. 58). Chambers, who acclaimed himself to be 'really a Very pretty Connoisseur in furniture', exercised very close supervision in the matters of the decorative arts, and frequently acted as paymaster on his projects which may account for the direct payment to Alken at Peper Harow even with the participation of Mayhew and Ince.
In addition to the six chairs on offer here, a further pair of chairs from the Peper Harow set was sold Christie's, London, 11 February 1999, lot 5.
The chairs, whose Palladian patera-enriched and antique-fluted rails harmonise with the hall door entablatures, are likely to have been executed by Mayhew and Ince, cabinet-makers of Golden Square and authors of The Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762. The firm supplied related stone-painted chairs for Broadlands, Hampshire (see H. Roberts, 'The Ince and Mayhew Connection', Country Life, 29 January 1981, p. 289, fig. 4). These two sets share the distinctive roundel and fluted seat-rail design. Mayhew and Ince had collaborated with Chambers on various projects, including the refurbishment carried out for the 4th Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace from the late 1760s. The chairs may have been executed by the specialist carver Sefferin Alken (fl. 1744-783) under their employ as there is a considerable payment recorded from Chambers to Alken for £294 14s.9d. Chambers, Alken and John Mayhew worked together at Blenheim. Notably, Alken collaborated with Chambers on the celebrated medal cabinet executed for the 1st Earl of Charlemont for Charlemont House, Dublin and now at Somerset House, London. He worked extensively with many of London's top cabinet-making firms, often providing furniture to the designs of Robert Adam. He was employed for the specialist carving on chairs, similarly fluted, supplied by John Cobb at Croome Court in 1765 to Adam's designs. In Alken's collaboration with Cobb, his work was accounted for as part of Cobb's invoice ('carving all the arms and front feet, all the rest carved by Mr. Alken', see C. Musgrave, Adam and Hepplewhite and other Neo-Classical Furniture, 1966, fig. 58). Chambers, who acclaimed himself to be 'really a Very pretty Connoisseur in furniture', exercised very close supervision in the matters of the decorative arts, and frequently acted as paymaster on his projects which may account for the direct payment to Alken at Peper Harow even with the participation of Mayhew and Ince.
In addition to the six chairs on offer here, a further pair of chairs from the Peper Harow set was sold Christie's, London, 11 February 1999, lot 5.