This fine and large-scale table is executed in the finest quality mahogany and retains an excellent colour and patination. The rectangular top is supported on a fluted frieze in the neoclassical manner with finely executed roundel paterae. The table stands on six finely tapering turned legs with foliate carved capitals and bulbous collars.



We are extremely excited to be able to add this fine table to the corpus of furniture by the London makers Ince and Mayhew. In their recent monograph on the this important firm, Industry and Ingenuity: The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, Sir Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator illustrate one of a pair of serving tables which are at Southill House in Bedfordshire. As the authors explain, the history of the collections at Southill is a complex one, the collections of the Lords Torrington becoming intertwined with those Samuel Whitbread who purchased the house after Torrington's bankruptcy, due in no small part to his expenditure on such things as very fine furniture. Although Southill is best known to students of furniture history today for its exceptional regency furniture, it also contains many pieces of wonderful late 18th century origin, many of which are believed to have been supplied by Ince and Mayhew. These side tables, one of which is illustrated below, are almost identical to our table. The distinctive form of the legs, and their bulbous collars, is identical even down to the leaf carving on the capitals. The frieze is likewise virtually identical, as are the carved paterae, with the exception of the central example which is a little wider and more stretched on the Southill examples.



To quote Roberts and Cator: 'A pair of plain rectangular mahogany side tables closely matching the hall furniture, with turned legs, neatly carved capitals headed by paterae, and fluted friezes (Fig. 398), together with a mahogany extending dining table with similarly crisp detailing (Fig. 399) are probably to be identified with the pieces listed in Torrington's “Eating Parlour” in 1779'.



The previous owners of our table had attributed the making to Chippendale due to the cramp cuts to the underside of the frame which have traditionally, and erroneously, been seen as some sort of proof of  the firm's involvement with a piece. We are absolutely sure, however, that this remarkably fine example was in fact made by Ince and Mayhew, perhaps Chippendale's most persistent competitors at the very top of the London furniture market. As such it is a very fine rediscovery and we are delighted to be able to offer it to our friends and clients.