ATTRIBUTED TO INCE AND MAYHEW, CIRCA 1780

This mahogany serving-table is attributed to Ince & Mayhew based on a number of stylistic attributes. The most distinctive is the carved husk pendants headed by florets. Similar ornamentation is found on furniture by or attributed to the firm, either as ormolu or bronzed mounts, marquetry or, as in this example, carved decoration. Their number includes: an ormolu-mounted serving table from Lord Kerry’s dining room at Portman Square, London, supplied by Ince & Mayhew in c. 1770, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight (C. Cator, ‘The Earl of Kerry and Mayhew and Ince: “The Idlest Ostentation”’, Furniture History, 1990, fig. 1). Interestingly, the sculpted swags on Lord Kerry’s table can be compared to swags featured in the pair of side tablets on the present serving table. An important patinated bronze-mounted marquetry commode with an Italian scagliola top, the commode attributed to Ince & Mayhew, circa 1775, formerly in the Leverhulme collection (sold ‘The Exceptional Sale’, Christie's, London, 9 July 2015, lot 154, £80,500 including premium) also includes husk pendants as do a pair of pedestals from a set of dining room furniture formerly in the collection of the Bouverie family at Delapré Abbey, Northamptonshire (part of the suite sold ‘The Exceptional Sale’, Christie’s, London, 6 July 2017, lot 12, £137,000 including premium). The bank ledger for the Hon. Edward Bouverie shows that Ince & Mayhew were his principal furniture suppliers to whom he authorised substantial payments of £1,412.09 (C. Hoare & Co., London, customer ledger 79, f. 36, 38, 215, 216; ledger 81, f. 322; ledger 84, f. 395). Furthermore, the carved central tablet on the table offered here relates to the frieze of a commode attributed to Ince & Mayhew, and supplied to George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea and 4th Earl of Nottingham for Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, sold from the collection of the Hon. Simon Sainsbury (Christie’s, London, 18 June 2008, lot 250, £679,650 including premium). An identical frieze is found on a serpentine serving-table from the collection of the Mytton family, Cleobury Hall, Shropshire, who can be linked to Ince & Mayhew through their distant relative, Sir Thomas Edwardes Bt., a known patron of the firm. Finally, a related serving-table with a carved central tablet depicting an urn and with a fluted frieze was supplied by Ince & Mayhew to James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, for the ‘Large Dining Parlour’ of Caledon House (H. Roberts, '"Unequall’d Elegance": Mayhew and Ince’s Furniture for James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon’, Furniture History, 2009, pp. 107 & 109, figs. 9-10).