BY MAYHEW AND INCE, CIRCA 1775

This pair of elegant George III chairs, with their herm-tapered legs and 'antique' medallion backs conceived in the French 'cabriolet' fashion, were commissioned for Cobham Hall, Kent following its aggrandisement by John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley (d. 1781). Richly sculpted with bas-relief flowers and foliage in keeping with the elegantly stuccoed architecture and intricately carved mantelpieces, they reflect the Grecian fashion adopted in the 1770s by the Soho cabinet-makers and upholsterers, Messrs Mayhew and Ince. The firm advertised London 'taste' in the early years of George III's reign with a celebrated pattern-book, The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762). However, the wide variability and imaginative interpretation of classical design can preclude a signature style for undocumented pieces. At Cobham, the firm's contributions were significant. They had first been employed by Lord Darnley in 1761. Lord Darnley's account books over the following twenty years totalled almost £4,000 (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers: 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 593). In addition to the present suite, the griffin-armed suite supplied for the Gilt Hall (and mentioned in the 1831 inventory), another supplied for the Blue silk Bedroom and a further suite (including the settee in the following lot) are also attributed to the firm. The 3rd Earl made extensive improvements to the house and several payments to George Shakespear for 1771-1774 support his role as architect as well as contractor at both Cobham and the London house in Berkeley Square, although the Rome-trained court architect Sir William Chambers (d.1796) makes an appearance among the payments. Upon his father's death in 1781, the 4th Earl brought on James Wyatt and extensive payments continued to Mayhew and Ince until 1803.
The present armchairs - almost certainly part of a set of six 'elbow' chairs - were sold at a Sotheby's house sale by order of the trustees of the 8th Earl of Darnley, Cobham Hall, 23 July 1957, lot 442. Now lacking their original gilding, they probably formed part of the suite described as 'Eighteen richly carved & gilt arm chairs stuffed in crimson damask' listed in the 1831 inventory in the Picture Gallery. The pair of settees and at least six armchairs remained at Cobham and are illustrated in J. Cornforth, 'Cobham Hall, Kent - III', Country Life, 10 March 1983, p. 571, figs. 11 and 12. While Cornforth names these six armchairs, the fact that Partridge had a total of eight chairs of this model six years later almost certainly supports the larger number that did not leave Cobham until the 1980s. It is not known when any further chairs may have left Cobham. Two pairs of the Partridge armchairs chairs and the settees (all with later applied carving to the side rails) were subsequently sold Christie's, New York, 11 October 2007, lots 200-202 ($133,000 for each pair of chairs and $181,000 for the settee.)
The chairs' golden frames reflect a return to the ancient form of interior decoration with 'tablets and medallions', as promoted by architectural publications such as The Ruins of the Emperor Diocletion's Palace, at Spalatro (1762) issued by 'Bob the Roman' Adam; and The Antiquities of Athens (1762) by James 'Athenian' Stuart.
A notable feature of the suite is its unusual lacquered brass feet. Given the known collaboration between Mayhew and Ince and the celebrated Soho ormolu manufacturers, Boulton and Fothergill, it is tempting to ascribe these to the latter. While little evidence has surfaced regarding this working relationship, correspondence exists concerning the Duchess of Manchester's cabinet (designed by Robert Adam) and a chimneypiece and tripods for Lord Kerry (see L. Boynton (ed.), 'An Ince and Mayhew Correspondence', Furniture History, 1966, vol. II, pp. 23-36).