attributed to Mayhew & Ince, circa 1775, the decoration attributed to Antonio Zucchi, with a galleried breakfront top decorated with foliage, the front panel painted with Euryclea being awakened by Penelope with the news of Ulysses' return beneath a laurel-swagged urn and a grisaille medallion of Cupid above crossed palms tied with ribbon, flanked on each side by an oval panel painted en grisaille of a classical lady within wreathes tied with red ribbon
| Estimate: | £20,000 - £40,000 |
the stand with two panels painted with trophies of war, on turned beaded and fluted tapering legs headed by urns and ending in toupie feet,
150cm high x 120cm wide x 52cm deep
Provenance: Almost certainly supplied to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Bt. for 20 St. James's Square, London.
Ernest Cunard, Esq. of 27 Pullman Square, London W1 and sold by the Executors of his widow, at Christie's London, 4th June 1935, lot 64, where the provenance was given as "From the collection of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Bart".
With Moss Harris, 1935.
Sold by Mallet in the 1950's.
Private collection.
Literature: M. Jourdain & F. Rose, "English Furniture, The Georgian Period", published London 1953, as the frontispiece and on page 112.
This remarkable neo-classical cabinet relates to that made by Mayhew & Ince to the design of the architect Robert Adam (died 1792) for Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (C.M. Tomlin, "The Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture", published London 1982, no. N4).
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Bt., known as the Welsh Maecenas, was an important patron of the arts. His introduction of Sir William Hamilton to the Society of Dilettanti was commemorated in the celebrated paintings executed by Sir Joshua Reynolds. These were completed in 1779, the same year that the plans and elevations of 20 St. James's Square were issued in "The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam".
The design of the present cabinet with palm-flowered urns and laurel-festooned Apollo sunflowers relates directly to Adams ceiling ornament for Lady Williams-Wynn's bedroom at Wynn House, which is thought to have been decorated with Adam's "Etruscan" ornament on a sky blue ground.
The richly decorated ceiling ornament of the second withdrawing room in London - the grandest in the suite of rooms - with its figural scenes, lunette panels and draped urns - correspond directly to the cabinet. Adams distinctive stylistic vocabulary and the fusion of architectural details with the furniture and fittings are self-evident. It is likely this cabinet was positioned opposite a pair of tables which were sold at Christie's New York in 2016.
A pair of green-ground cabinets from Lady Williams-Wynn's dressing room designed by Adam and now in the Carnegie Institute of Art, Pittsburgh (1998.2.1) are similarly decorated and feature a frieze of classical figures depicting the "Triumph of Love" from Ovid's "Metamorphoses". The decoration on these cabinets is attributed to Antonio Zucchi, the husband of Angelica Kauffmann. He is recorded as carrying out many of Adam's designs at St. James's Square and a bill dated 15th June 1776 lists "Paid Mr Zucchi the balance of his bill for painting pictures in ceilings, ornamenting doors, girandoles etc. £484" (Wynnstay records EH4/8).
