Lot Essay
This commode is very similar to a mahogany serpentine commode supplied to Earl and Countess Stanhope circa 1775, and recorded in one of the Scribble Books kept by Grizel, Countess Stanhope (Stanhope Papers, Kent Record Office, Maidstone):
22 Feb 1775
Bill Mayhew & Ince for black bordered
Commode London
£10 10s
The use of ebonised borders is a recurrent feature of Mayhew and Ince's work, and appears on a related commode confidently attributed to Mayhew and Ince sold by E.R. Hanbury, Esq., Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, in these Rooms, 6 July 1996, lot 147. This was almost certainly supplied to George Finch, 4th Earl of Nottingham and 9th Earl of Winchilsea (1752-1826) for Burley-on-the-Hill. In the winter of 1774 he wrote to his mother: 'I have got a number of things from Mayhew. I am sure the house will soon have a more furnished look' (C. Hussey, 'Burley-on-the-Hill', Country Life, 17 February 1923, p. 217).
A smaller commode very close to the present lot was sold from the Leidesdorf Collection, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 101 and again on 10 February 1989, lot 82.
22 Feb 1775
Bill Mayhew & Ince for black bordered
Commode London
£10 10s
The use of ebonised borders is a recurrent feature of Mayhew and Ince's work, and appears on a related commode confidently attributed to Mayhew and Ince sold by E.R. Hanbury, Esq., Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, in these Rooms, 6 July 1996, lot 147. This was almost certainly supplied to George Finch, 4th Earl of Nottingham and 9th Earl of Winchilsea (1752-1826) for Burley-on-the-Hill. In the winter of 1774 he wrote to his mother: 'I have got a number of things from Mayhew. I am sure the house will soon have a more furnished look' (C. Hussey, 'Burley-on-the-Hill', Country Life, 17 February 1923, p. 217).
A smaller commode very close to the present lot was sold from the Leidesdorf Collection, Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 101 and again on 10 February 1989, lot 82.