Sofa
William Ince & John Mayhew (fl. 1759-1803)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1782 - 1783
Materials
Beech, paint, gilding, leather, iron, silk, braid
Measurements
109 x 264 x 84 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1170733.2
Summary
A sofa, one of a pair and part of a larger set of seventeen (originally twenty) pieces of seat furniture, comprising two sofas and fifteen (originally eighteen) open armchairs, made by William Ince & John Mayhew (fl. 1759-99), cabinet-makers of London, for Chirk Castle in circa 1782-3. Now upholstered in silk brocade, painted with brown graining and gilded; originally covered in green Tabory and painted (japanned) green and white. Having a moulded and serpentine cresting rail centred by a foliate spray and with padded arms terminating in scrolls. The seat rail carved with flutes and rosettes and raised on eight turned, tapering and fluted legs topped by a band of entrelac and terminating in reeded ovoid feet fitted with castors.
Full description
Associated with Chirk Castle
Provenance
Amongst the chattels that, in 1978, were acquired along with Chirk Castle from Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) by the National Land Fund and handed, on loan for 99 years, to the Secretary of State for Wales. In 1981 Chirk was transferred into the ownership of the National Trust. Purchased by the National Trust from Mr Guy Myddelton in 2023.
Marks and inscriptions
Seat rail: 7354 Middelton
Makers and roles
William Ince & John Mayhew (fl. 1759-1803), cabinetmaker
References
Roberts, H. and Cator, C., Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew (PWP, London, 2022), pp. 211-213; Figs. 34, 326 and 363