A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SERPENTINE CHEST

The commode displays several features associated with the London cabinet-makers Messrs Mayhew & Ince and which were also prominent on a commode commissioned in the 1770s by the 9th Earl of Winchilsea for Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, which can be confidently attributed to the firm. The commodes share the same edge moulding-profile, similar carved and tapering columns to the corners, and tapering legs ending in reeded ball feet, albeit the Burley commode is more elaborate and the craftsmanship exquisite. Payments are recorded in the Earl of Winchilsea’s accounts, notably in 1774 and 1776, and the Earl wrote to his mother in 1774 stating that he had `got a number of things from Mayhew’. The reeded foot pattern also corresponds to a set of seat furniture at Chirk Castle, Wrexham, again attributed to Mayhew & Ince, and again supported by correspondence, in this case between William Ince and Richard Myddelton of Chirk in 1782 – 83 confirming their working relationship.
The Burley commode was sold from the collection of the late Simon Sainsbury, Christie’s, London, 18 June 2008, lot 250 (£679,650 inc’ prem’), while another further simplified mahogany commode but in a similar spirit was sold from the collection of the late Peter Law Esq., Christie’s, London, 21 May 2015, lot 18 (£50,000 inc’ prem’).