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Lot Essay
The design of this serpentine table, including the plum-pudding mahogany top, fluted frieze and fluted legs relates very closely to a pair sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2000, lot 165, for $182,000.
Other details on the tables sold in New York are shared with a commode from the Arthur Leidesdorf collection, sold Sotheby & Co., London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 101. The Leidesdorf commode itself very closely corresponds to another larger example with swag-carved embellishments which was almost certainly supplied by Mayhew and Ince to the 9th Earl of Winchilsea for Burley-on-the-Hill after he succeeded to the title in 1769 (illustrated in R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., London, 1954, vol. II, fig. 56), sold Christie's, London, 6 July 1989, lot 147. Substantial payments to the firm, relating to furniture then at Burley-on-the-Hill, amounting to over £2,600, are recorded from 1772 to 1776 (Leicester Record Office).
A possible alternative attribution is to the Marlborough and Bath cabinet-maker, Henry Hill (d.1778). At the time of its sale, it was suggested that he had made a smaller serpentine marquetry side table that was sold anonymously, Christie's. London, 9 July 1992, lot 66. A trail of minor details on the legs of other tables, particularly one with Norman Adams in 2001, raises the possibility that he made the present table.
Other details on the tables sold in New York are shared with a commode from the Arthur Leidesdorf collection, sold Sotheby & Co., London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 101. The Leidesdorf commode itself very closely corresponds to another larger example with swag-carved embellishments which was almost certainly supplied by Mayhew and Ince to the 9th Earl of Winchilsea for Burley-on-the-Hill after he succeeded to the title in 1769 (illustrated in R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., London, 1954, vol. II, fig. 56), sold Christie's, London, 6 July 1989, lot 147. Substantial payments to the firm, relating to furniture then at Burley-on-the-Hill, amounting to over £2,600, are recorded from 1772 to 1776 (Leicester Record Office).
A possible alternative attribution is to the Marlborough and Bath cabinet-maker, Henry Hill (d.1778). At the time of its sale, it was suggested that he had made a smaller serpentine marquetry side table that was sold anonymously, Christie's. London, 9 July 1992, lot 66. A trail of minor details on the legs of other tables, particularly one with Norman Adams in 2001, raises the possibility that he made the present table.