Ince and Mayhew

Ince and Mayhew were a partnership of furniture designers, upholsterers and cabinetmakers, founded and run by William Ince (1737-1804)and John Mayhew (1736–1811) in London, from 1759 to 1803; Mayhew continued alone in business until 1809. Their premises were listed in London directories in Broad Street, Soho, 1763–83, and in Marshall Street, Carnaby Market, 1783-1809. The partnership's volume of engraved designs, The Universal System of Household Furniture, dedicated to the Duke of Marlborough (published in parts, 1759–63), was issued in imitative rivalry with Thomas Chippendale; Ince, who was a subscriber to the first edition of Chippendale's Director. 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.

John Mayhew served as apprentice to William Smith Bradshaw, a prominent upholder, and William Ince served his time with John West, King Street, Covent Garden, according to the advertisement the partners took out in the Public 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 production Household Furniture in Genteel Taste for the year 1760. By a Society of Upholsterers.

The notices to the designs of their Universal System are given in English and French, and the firm advertised "French furniture consigned from Paris"; Mayhew's name appears repeatedly in Christie'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 in Gobelins tapestry, were provided to George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry for the Tapestry Room at Croome Court, Worcestershire (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) 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 exploit marquetry 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.

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