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Lot Essay
This elegant settee, with its Roman-medallion and French 'antique' frame was commissioned by John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley (d.1781) for Cobham Hall, Kent from the Golden Square firm of John Mayhew and William Ince. It formed part of a distinguished suite of seat furniture (probably originally twelve armchairs, two sofas and two window seats) from which now only one chair survives at Cobham Hall. (J. Cornforth, 'Cobham Hall-III', Country Life, 10 March 1983, pp. 568-571.).
This settee is virtually identical to a suite of seat furniture almost certainly supplied by Mayhew and Ince to Richard Myddleton of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, although the present lot features a more intricate foliate cresting (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers: 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 596). The suite can be seen in situ in a view of the Saloon at Chirk (C. Hussey, 'Chirk Castle', Country Life, 5 October 1951, fig. 7.) A pair of armchairs from the Chirk suite was sold at Chirk Castle, Christie's House Sale, 21 June 2004, lot 50 (£74,040).
The exact details of the sale of this settee from Cobham are unknown. It did not form part of the Sotheby's house sale, sold by order of the Trustees of the 8th Earl of Darnley, 22-23 July 1957. Part of its corresponding suite (five armchairs, a settee and a window seat) was sold by the 10th Earl of Darnley, some time after 1957 and has been sold at auction three times since: Firstly by Lady Inchyra, Christie's, London, 30 June 1966, lot 152, secondly Christie's, London, 6 July 1972, lot 143 and finally Christie's, London, 19 November 1992, lot 104. It can only be assumed that the settee was part of the unrecorded dispersal after 1957.
This settee illustrates the shared design and construction details on seat furniture produced in the workshops of Mayhew and Ince and Thomas Chippendale. The husk-entwined and draped patera cresting is often considered one of Chippendale's trademarks and appears most famously on the suite from the Tapestry Room at Newby Hall, Yorkshire (C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 106, pl. 180.). Furthermore The Cobham seat furniture is constructed in what might be described as Chippendale's style with cramp-cuts in the seat-rails, batten holes for carrying, along with the exposed back-struts that are also found on the Chirk armchairs.
As with the previous Cobham chairs, a notable feature of this settee is its unusual cast-ormolu feet. Given the documented collaboration between Mayhew and Ince and the celebrated Soho ormolu manufacturers, Boulton and Fothergill, it is tempting to ascribe these to the latter. Interestingly, identical cast-ormolu feet also feature on a pair of giltwood settees currently in the London trade that have been attributed to Chippendale the Younger based on their affinity to the pair at Newby (see C. Gilbert, op. cit., vol. II, p. 202, figs. 368-369) thus introducing the possibility of a Chippendale/Boulton relationship. The London pair may form part of the Lowther suite from Campsea Ashe, Suffolk (an identical settee sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1-2 November 1963, lot 185).
This settee is virtually identical to a suite of seat furniture almost certainly supplied by Mayhew and Ince to Richard Myddleton of Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, although the present lot features a more intricate foliate cresting (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers: 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 596). The suite can be seen in situ in a view of the Saloon at Chirk (C. Hussey, 'Chirk Castle', Country Life, 5 October 1951, fig. 7.) A pair of armchairs from the Chirk suite was sold at Chirk Castle, Christie's House Sale, 21 June 2004, lot 50 (£74,040).
The exact details of the sale of this settee from Cobham are unknown. It did not form part of the Sotheby's house sale, sold by order of the Trustees of the 8th Earl of Darnley, 22-23 July 1957. Part of its corresponding suite (five armchairs, a settee and a window seat) was sold by the 10th Earl of Darnley, some time after 1957 and has been sold at auction three times since: Firstly by Lady Inchyra, Christie's, London, 30 June 1966, lot 152, secondly Christie's, London, 6 July 1972, lot 143 and finally Christie's, London, 19 November 1992, lot 104. It can only be assumed that the settee was part of the unrecorded dispersal after 1957.
This settee illustrates the shared design and construction details on seat furniture produced in the workshops of Mayhew and Ince and Thomas Chippendale. The husk-entwined and draped patera cresting is often considered one of Chippendale's trademarks and appears most famously on the suite from the Tapestry Room at Newby Hall, Yorkshire (C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 106, pl. 180.). Furthermore The Cobham seat furniture is constructed in what might be described as Chippendale's style with cramp-cuts in the seat-rails, batten holes for carrying, along with the exposed back-struts that are also found on the Chirk armchairs.
As with the previous Cobham chairs, a notable feature of this settee is its unusual cast-ormolu feet. Given the documented collaboration between Mayhew and Ince and the celebrated Soho ormolu manufacturers, Boulton and Fothergill, it is tempting to ascribe these to the latter. Interestingly, identical cast-ormolu feet also feature on a pair of giltwood settees currently in the London trade that have been attributed to Chippendale the Younger based on their affinity to the pair at Newby (see C. Gilbert, op. cit., vol. II, p. 202, figs. 368-369) thus introducing the possibility of a Chippendale/Boulton relationship. The London pair may form part of the Lowther suite from Campsea Ashe, Suffolk (an identical settee sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1-2 November 1963, lot 185).