Ince and Mayhew were a partnership offurniture designers,upholsterers andcabinetmakers, founded and run by William Ince (1737–1804)[1] and John Mayhew (1736–1811) inLondon, from 1759 to 1803; Mayhew continued alone in business until 1809. Their premises were located in Marshall Street but were listed in London directories inBroad Street,Soho, 1763–83, and in Marshall Street,Carnaby Market, 1783–1809.[2] The partnership's volume ofengraved designs,The Universal System of Household Furniture, dedicated to theDuke of Marlborough (published in parts, 1759–63), was issued in imitative rivalry withThomas Chippendale;[3] Ince, who was a subscriber to the first edition of Chippendale'sDirector, was chiefly responsible for the designs, while Mayhew contributed the greater part of the partnership's capital, kept the accounts, and was in closer contact with the firm's clientele among the nobility and gentry.[4] The name of the firm originally appears to have been "Mayhew and Ince", but on the title page ofThe Universal System the names are reversed, suggesting that Ince was the more extensive contributor.[5]
John Mayhew served as apprentice to William Smith Bradshaw, a prominentupholsterer, and William Ince served his time with John West, King Street,Covent Garden,[6] according to the advertisement the partners took out in thePublic Advertiser 27 January 1759, as they set up in the former premises of Charles Smith. The following year Ince and Mayhew contributed some furniture designs to the joint productionHousehold Furniture in Genteel Taste for the year 1760. By a Society of Upholsterers. Their designs helped to build the bridge between the massive and often florid style of Chippendale and the more slender and balanced forms ofGeorge Hepplewhite.[7]
The notices to the designs of theirUniversal System are given in English and French, and the firm advertised "French furniture consigned from Paris";[8] Mayhew's name appears repeatedly inChristie's archives as purchaser of French furniture and gilt-bronze at auction.
An early neoclassical suite of six armchairs and a settee, to be covered inGobelins tapestry, were provided toGeorge Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry for the Tapestry Room atCroome Court, Worcestershire (now at theMetropolitan Museum of Art)[9] The "Antique Elbow Chairs" were the first neoclassical chairs in Europe with oval backs. Ince and Mayhew were also among the first London furniture-makers to exploitmarquetry decoration when it became fashionable once again in the 1760s: in 1765 they provided for Croome Court a pair of uncompromisingly rectangular commodes with richly engraved neoclassical marquetry of satinwood and holly.[10]
Ince and Mayhew provided furniture for a number of Robert Adam's other patrons:Sir John Whitwell atAudley End (1767), the Duchess of Northumberland (from 1771)[11] the Earl of Kerry (from 1771).[12] In 1775 they constructed, to Adam's numerous and detailed designs, the celebratedKimbolton Cabinet inlaid with Florentinepietra dura plaques for the Duchess of Manchester (now at theVictoria and Albert Museum);Boulton and Fothergill supplied the gilt-bronze mounts.[13] For Lady Derby's Dressing Room at Derby House, London, they executed a demilune commode to Adam's design of October 1774, delivered in November 1775; it combined strongly contrasting richly engraved satinwood and harewood marquetry in an "Etruscan" taste with painted panels and gilt-bronze mounts; discovery of the commode enabled Hugh Roberts tentatively to identify a series of comparable demilune and serpentine-fronted marquetry commodes to the firm.[14] Furnishings were also provided for the Duchess of Devonshire's private apartment atChatsworth.
Ince and Mayhew also provided furnishings forHumphry Sturt atCrichel House, Dorset, whereJames Wyatt was providing designs for the interiors[15] Their furniture forWarren Hastings atDaylesford House, Worcestershire, amounted to £2187[16]
The firm was prominent enough to be commissioned to vetDominique Daguerre's bills for furnishingCarlton House, 1783–89, but none of their production for the Prince of Wales nor the royal family has been identified.
They provided furniture in 1802 forHester Thrale Piozzi atBrynbella.[17] A suite of "Hepplewhite" chairs with the Prince of Wales's feathers in the backs were provided for the Westminster Fire Office (1792), where they remain.
The two partners married sisters, Isabella and Nancy Stephenson, in a double wedding at the fashionable church ofSt George's, Hanover Square on 20 February 1762.[18]
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
