A George III gilt-metal mounted camphor, amaranth and Indian rosewood cabinet, circa 1765, possibly by Mayhew and Ince, the Chinese soapstone-mounted panels, Qing Dynasty

Sotheby’s, Paris, 17 November 2021, lot 36 

Panels decorated with carved soapstone figures and objects were produced throughout the Qianlong period during the Qing dynasty in the 18th century. These panels were often small in size and hung on walls or incorporated into various pieces of furniture. A number of examples exist in the Chinese imperial collection, now housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Furniture mounted with these panels includes a red sandalwood throne , two hanging panels, each measuring approximately 111 cm by 76 cm , and a screen (Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Palace Museum, Beijing, 2002, vol. 54). Only a small group of European pieces of furniture incorporating similar panels are known, including two Boulle marquetry medal cabinets made for Joseph Pellerin, Commissioner General of the Navy, now in the Medal Cabinet of the National Library in Paris. Among the other panels, one was sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, on 5 and 6 November 1996, lot 1002, and a set of six panels  was sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, on 29 September 1992, lot 940.

There are also two English cabinets made in the 18th century incorporating these panels, one sold at Christie's, New York, Property from a Sutton Square Residence, 18 October 2005, lot 72, and one sold at Christie's, London, 4 July 1996, lot 359. Another pair from the George III period was sold at Sotheby's New York on 1 February 2013, lot 21 ($242,500).

The partnership between John Mayhew (1736–d. 1811) and William Ince (d. 1804) ‘was one of the most important, probably the oldest, but in terms of identified furniture, the least well documented of all the major London cabinetmakers of the 18th century’ (Barbe and Gilbert, Dictionary of London Furniture Makers 1660-1840, pp. 589-598). Although a significant number of accounts and bank documents have survived in most cases, these orders have been scattered, although their furniture designs, which were published under the title The Universal System of Household Furniture between 1759 and 1762, give an indication of the style of the house at that time. 

Another link with Mayhew and Ince is the incorporation of Chinese panels into the design of the furniture. This technique seems to be another of the company's unique trademarks. A marquetry cabinet made by Mayhew and Ince in 1775 from a design by Robert Adam was designed to display a series of pietra dura landscape panels. This cabinet was intended for the Duchess of Kimbolton and is now part of the Victoria and Albert Museum collection (M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1972, pp.104-5).

Louis XIV marquetry panels were reused in the Warwick cabinet, now in the Bowes Museum, and a yew wood table with a 17th-century marquetry top and blackened edges was among the furniture supplied to the 7th Baron Digby for Sherborne Castle (Beard ed., p. 593).