IN THE MANNER OF MAYHEW & INCE, CIRCA 1780 - 1820

With their fan-shaped backs, the present banqueting hall chairs are designed in the George III ‘Roman’ fashion introduced in the late 1770s and popularized by Hepplewhite & Co's publication The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers Guide, 1788. The overall form is found on a set of armorial chairs dating from the 1770s and attributed to the leading Soho firm of Mayhew and Ince, sold Christie's, Chirk Castle sale, 21 June 2004, lot 54. A further set with related medallion backs was commissioned in the mid-1770s by George Brodrick, 4th Viscount Midleton (d. 1836) for his entrance hall at Pepper Harrow, Sussex. The work on the hall was executed under the direction of Sir William Chambers but the chairs are believed to have been supplied by Mayhew & Ince. Three pairs of chairs from the Pepper Harrow suite were sold anonymously Collection of a New York Townhouse, Christie's, New York, 15 April 2005, lots 220-222 ($60,000, $57,600 and $50,400 including premium respectively). Another pair from the same suite was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 February 1999, lot 5 (£19,550).
Interestingly the same pattern of chair was in the possession of John Hamilton (1800 - 1884) of Brownhull, Ballintra, Co. Donegal and St. Ernans's, the latter built in the early 19th century, and it is possible they were supplied in the 1820s suggesting that the pattern was fashionable well into the 19th century.