ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE, CIRCA 1780

Features of the table, such as the particularly refined and engraved marquetry top and drapery-swagged base with foliate-capped legs, strongly suggest the authorship of Mayhew and Ince. The strung pearls and elegant foliate scrolls appear on much of their work while the more idiosyncratic bird-handled urn features on a commode in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (see L. Wood, A Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 24). The fantastical depiction of a lion emerging from foliage compares to Mayhew's use of lions elsewhere such as on two commodes – one in the Lady Lever collection (Wood, op. cit., no. 22, p. 295), and another formerly in Lord Tweedmouth’s collection and now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Y. Hackenbroch, English Furniture with some furniture from other countries in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958, pl. 284, fig. 326).