A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILT-BRONZE MOUNTED YEW-WOOD COMMODES, CIRCA 1765-1770, ATTRIBUTED TO MAYHEW AND INCE |

the serpentine quarter-veneered tops cross-banded with rosewood with an ebonised moulded edge, above a pair of conforming cupboard doors enclosing a single shelf, the gilt-bronze corner mounts headed with floral sprays, C-scrolls and foliate decoration above bell flower drops terminating in pierced scrolled foliate cabochon feet on splayed legs, each with label to reverse with pen inscription 'Langford',  minor differences to measurements

Probably acquired for Langford Grove, Essex, possibly by Nicholas Wescomb, Esq.;
Thence by descent at Langford Grove and laterly at Thrumpton Hall until sold, The Property of Thomas Seymour, Esq., Christie's London, Important English Furniture, 3 July 1997, lot 97 (£183,000);
Acquired from Jeremy Ltd. by the current owner.

Hussey, C., 'Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Seat of Lord Byron', Country Life, 11 August 1923, p. 183, fig. 5 (illustrated in the Saloon) (fig. 1);
Oswald, A., 'Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire - III', Country Life, 4 June 1959, p. 1255, figs. 3 and 4 (illustrated in the Saloon).

The catalogue illustration is slightly too orange in colour and the commodes have a more mellow tone. Overall the commodes are in a very good condition. The ebonies mouldings to the edge of the top are rubbed revealing timber beneath. The is some very slight integral cracking characteristic of the use of the yew wood veneer but all are sound. There is a very slight difference in the shape of the front corners of the tops and to the veneers. There have been some well matched repairs to the veneers on the legs. There is a narrow loss of veneer to the top rear left corner of the left side of one commode in the cross banding. The other commode has a faint ring mark in the front left quarter of the top. The same commode with two very thin insert of a greenish inlay or filler but barely visible. The mounts are of fine quality with good coloured gilding. Over all a very attractive pair of commodes with minor repairs and restorations consistent with age and use and in accordance with the nature of the veneers. Minor differences in dimensions as noted in the catalogue.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This elegant pair of commodes, conceived in the ‘French’ taste and veneered à quatre faces with striking book-matched yew-wood panels, display many of the features which have been identified as characteristic of the Golden Square firm, Mayhew and Ince (fl. 1758/9-1804). JOHN MAYHEW AND WILLIAM INCE

Theirs was one of the most successful and enduring cabinet-making partnerships, although perhaps the least well-documented of any of the major London cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century. They are first recorded as partners in December 1758, advertising from an address at Broad Street in January 1759. Earlier Mayhew had been apprenticed to William Bradshaw, and Ince to John West, before forming a brief partnership after West`s death in 1758 with Samuel Norman and James Whittle. In 1763 they were described as `cabinet-makers, carvers and upholders’, and in 1778 `manufacturers of plate glass’ appeared on their bill heading. One of their early ventures was to publish The Universal System of Household Furniture in 1762 which included eighty-nine numbered plates and six smaller ones dedicated to their great patron the 4th Duke of Marlborough.

THE DESIGN AND ATTRIBUTION

Two distinctive features of the present commodes can be confidently attributed to the firm. Chief among these traits is the use of yew-wood as a large-scale veneer, a characteristic which Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert consider ‘the wholly idiosyncratic veneer wood the firm used and possibly unique to Mayhew and Ince among London cabinet-makers of this date’¹. Several documented examples give credence to this including a pair of yew-wood commodes supplied to Sir Brooke Bridges for Goodnestone Park, Kent in circa 1764² and a closely related commode supplied to the antiquarian James West for Alscot Park, Warwickshire in 1766³.

The present commodes are almost identical in their design to a yew-wood commode formerly in the Moller collection and subsequently sold Christie’s London, Simon Sainsbury, The Creation of an English Arcadia, 18 June 2008, lot 65 (£167,259), the sole distinction being the gilt-bronze gadrooned border to the top (fig. 2)⁴. It is also worth referencing a pier table probably supplied by Mayhew and Ince to the Earl and Countess of Kerry in circa 1770, which incorporates a similar quarter veneered yew-wood top to the present commodes and which now forms part of the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery⁵.

A further hallmark of the Mayhew and Ince workshop is the employment of ebonised moulded borders, a recurrent feature found on many pieces from this period as evidenced by several documented neo-classical marquetry serpentine commodes - for which the firm are perhaps best known - including a pair of commodes supplied to 2^nd Viscount Palmerston for Broadlands, Hampshire in circa 1788⁶.

The corner-mounts on the present commodes derive from French models and were often employed by the ébéniste Joseph Baumhauer (maître 1749). The mount is frequently used in English cabinet-making and besides the Moller commode are found on numerous pieces associated with top London cabinet-makers such as John Cobb and Pierre Langlois, all of whom embraced le goût Français.

THE WESCOMB BROTHERS OF LANGFORD GROVE AND THRUMPTON HALL

Separated by over a hundred miles of English countryside, the estates of Langford Grove, Essex and Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire were joined through the common ownership of two 18^th century squires, brothers Nicholas Wescomb (Langford) and John Emerton Wescomb Emerton (1745-1823) (Thrumpton). Whilst no documentary evidence exists, it is highly probable the commodes were acquired by one of the Wescomb brothers, most likely Nicholas for Langford Grove.

Although the commodes were at Thrumpton Hall from at least 1916 until their sale by Thomas Seymour, Esq. in 1997, labels to the reverse of each commode - inscribed in ink ‘Langford’ - provide the first clue of their true origin. Further evidence comes in the form of an inventory of Thrumpton heirlooms listed in July 1918 for the then owner, Frederick Ernest Charles Byron, 10th Baron Byron (1861–1949), and which fails to include the present commodes (ref. NRA 5899 Wescomb, Nottinghamshire Archives). Lord Byron inherited Thrumpton from his aunt, Lucy Byron, née Wescomb, who died in 1912 and presumably moved to Thrumpton shortly after this date having inherited both estates. The commodes were likely moved from Langford Grove around this time.

Regrettably Langford Grove suffered a fate shared by many great estates in the 20th century and was almost entirely demolished in 1952. Thrumpton Hall was built early in the reign of James I by Gervase Pigot, who purchased the estate in the early 17^th century. The house was ‘improved and adorned’ by his son Gervase Pigot (d. 1685) after the restoration. Further alterations were made by John Wescomb Emerton in the second half of the 18^th century, however, the Jacobean character of the building was preserved. The present commodes are illustrated in the Saloon in Country Life in 1923 and 1959. The Saloon was an unusual mixture of the Carolean and Adamesque work and the present commodes can be seen flanking the ornately decorated pilasters and chimneypiece, above which used to hang Thomas Philips’ (1770 –1845) famous portrait of Lord Byron (now in the collection at Newstead Abbey, ref. NA 532) (fig. 1).

¹ Beard, G. and Gilbert, C., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 593

² Treasures from Kent Houses, Exhibition Catalogue, 1984, Royal Museum, Canterbury, No. 57, p. 35, pl. 15.

³ Beard, G. and Gilbert, C., op. cit., p. 593

⁴ Symonds, R. W., Furniture Making in the 17^th & 18^th Century England, London, 1955, p. 112, fig. 166

⁵ Cator, C., ‘The Earl of Kery and Mayhew and Ince’, Furniture History, 1990, p. 32, figs, 1 and 2.

⁶ See Roberts, H., ‘The Derby House Commode’, The Burlington Magazine, Vol CXXVII, Number 986, May 1985, p. 275-283 for a discussion of this and related commodes.