Side table
William Ince & John Mayhew (fl. 1759-99)
Category
Furniture
Date
1786
Materials
Mahogany, satinwood, holly, sycamore, deal
Measurements
93.5 x 251.4 x 92.7 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Kingston Lacy Estate, Dorset
NT 1254536
Summary
A mahogany, satinwood-crossbanded, sycamore and holly-inlaid bow-front serving table, or side table, by John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (d. 1804), London, 1786. The top crossbanded and inlaid with engraved foliate scrolls heightened with white, the frieze banded and inlaid with engraved leaves, raised on square-section legs, similarly inlaid, and collared feet.
Full description
The firm of cabinet-makers, Ince & Mayhew, of Broad Street, Soho, a partnership between William Ince (d.1804) and John Mayhew (1736-1811), has been described as ‘one of the most significant’ firms of cabinet-makers operating in the reign of George III. Paradoxically, they are, at the same time, said to be the ‘least well-documented’. They were among the principal rivals of the now much more famous Thomas Chippendale, publishing 'The Universal System of Household Furniture' in 1762 as a riposte to Chippendale’s similar book of designs, 'The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director' which was published between 1754 and 1762. The firm and its output have never been the subject of a scholarly monograph but, in 2021, furniture historians Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator are together publishing a book devoted to the firm which will, for the first time, discuss the firm's output in full. Henry Bankes the Younger (1757-1834) commissioned this table for his dining room at Kingston Lacy before 30 August 1786, when he paid a bill of £29 18s 3d from Ince & Mayhew for 'A large Mahogany Semi Oval Sideboard Curiously Inlaid...the whole richly Engrav'd' and a further bill of £1 1s for its 'Patent Oil Cloth Cover for the top...lined with green baize and green silk binding' (Dorset Record Office, Bankes Papers D/BKL). He may have purchased other, as yet undocumented, furniture from the firm: the rare set of four mahogany serpentine-fronted dressing chests (NT 1254602.1-.4) have been tentatively attributed to Ince & Mayhew. James Weedon (June 2018)
Provenance
Commissioned by Henry Bankes the Younger (1757-1834) for the Dining Room at Kingston Lacy from Ince & Mayhew of Broad Street, Soho in 1786. Thence by descent, until the bequest of the estates of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy to the National Trust by Henry John Ralph Bankes (1902-1981). National Trust ownership commenced from 19 August 1982.
Makers and roles
William Ince & John Mayhew (fl. 1759-99), cabinetmaker
References
Hayward and Kirkham, 1980: Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham. William and John Linnell, eighteenth century London furniture makers. London: Studio Vista in association with Christie’s, 1980. Kirkman, Pat 'The careers of William and John Linnell' FHS, FHS 1974, pp. 56–59 Dictionary of British and Irish furniture makers online (1660-1840) FHS 2017 Country life. 1897-, 24 April 1986