Case Pieces

A Highly Important George III Mahogany Breakfront Cabinet Att.Ince & Mayhew a Design of Robert Adam
18th Century

The overhanging molded cornice carved with ribbons, swags and fluting above glazed mullioned doors opening to adjustable shelves above a projecting center section fitted with doors opening to sliding shelves, flanked by drawers, on a conforming plinth. 

William Ince (active 1758-1803)

John Mayhew (active c. 1755-1811)

Cabinetmakers and upholsters in partnership in Broad Street, Carnaby Market, London, from 1758/9 to 1804.  The greater part of their business career was spent in the manufacturing of high quality furniture in the Neoclassical style, often to the designs of Robert Adam.

Robert Adam (1728-92)

Born in Kirkcaldy in fife, the son of the architect William Adam, Robert often in partnership with his brothers John (1721-92) and James (1732-94) revolutionized interior as well as the
practice of architecture, introducing a personal, delicate variation of the neoclassical taste that was to influence all aspects of design during the lest forty years of the 18th century.  Robert Adams furniture, often produced in collaboration with the furniture maker Thomas Chippendale, provided a marked contrast with the heavy Palladian styles, which had come before.  Having traveled to Italy in the mid 1750’s, on his return he established an architectural and design practice in London in 1758.  The Adam Office’s immense output was achieved only through the participation of a large number of assistance; thus it is often difficult to ascertain exactly how much is owed to Robert Adam’s own genius, and how much should be credited to other members of the family, to assistants, or to manufactures such as Chippendale.

Reference:
Adam Style by Steven Parissien English Furniture of the 18th Century by Herbert Cescinsky Volume I, II and III

Provenance:

A Private Estate, Newport RI.

Dimensions:
Height 97 in. Width 114 in. Depth 22 in.

Inv#: Bc4
18th Century Breakfronts Cabinets

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