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Lot Essay
The golden satinwood tables of semi-elliptical outline are designed and embellished with foliage and medallions in the elegant George III Etruscan/Roman fashion promoted in the 1770s by the publication of Robert and James Adam's Works in Architecture, 1773.
They were probably executed by the cabinet-making partnership of John Mayhew and William Ince of Golden Square, London, and exhibit many stylistic features associated with their oeuvre. The tops display 'Apollo' sunflowered paterae within 'Venus' shell-scalloped medallions, while similar sunflowers adorn the frieze tablets. The anthemion which springs from the fan, and the small flowerheads that encircle the legs correspond with similar motifs on the pair of pier tables supplied by Mayhew and Ince to Richard Myddleton for The Saloon at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, in circa 1782. Roman acanthus foliage decorates the frieze, the leaves bound by ribbon in the same manner as the carved decoration on seat furniture at Chirk, likewise delivered by Mayhew and Ince. Similar scrolling foliage and the same small flowerheads feature on a semi-elliptical commode formerly in the Leverhulme collection and which is attributed to Mayhew and Ince (Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 28, pp. 236 - 239 and pl. 31). The attribution is strengthened by the ebonised surface to the lower projecting edge of the top, a form of decoration favoured by the firm.
They were probably executed by the cabinet-making partnership of John Mayhew and William Ince of Golden Square, London, and exhibit many stylistic features associated with their oeuvre. The tops display 'Apollo' sunflowered paterae within 'Venus' shell-scalloped medallions, while similar sunflowers adorn the frieze tablets. The anthemion which springs from the fan, and the small flowerheads that encircle the legs correspond with similar motifs on the pair of pier tables supplied by Mayhew and Ince to Richard Myddleton for The Saloon at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, in circa 1782. Roman acanthus foliage decorates the frieze, the leaves bound by ribbon in the same manner as the carved decoration on seat furniture at Chirk, likewise delivered by Mayhew and Ince. Similar scrolling foliage and the same small flowerheads feature on a semi-elliptical commode formerly in the Leverhulme collection and which is attributed to Mayhew and Ince (Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 28, pp. 236 - 239 and pl. 31). The attribution is strengthened by the ebonised surface to the lower projecting edge of the top, a form of decoration favoured by the firm.