It occurred to me that with the opening of the new British Galleries in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, there might be some new photographs of the Ince & Mayhew furniture that was made for the Tapestry Room in Croome Court and is now on display there.    Well, there are some, and they are stunning!

I was particularly taken with this close-up of the shell pier glass.  I had not realised there was a medallion beneath the shell, and I wonder who is depicted.  It could be the second Countess of Coventry, Barbara St John who the Earl married in 1764 or it could be William's wife Ann.

I have been looking at some of William's designs in the Universal System of Household Furniture and there are a surprising number of figures here and there.  Some of the women's faces are a little chubby and may have been his model for the medallion, or it may even have been his mother.  Alternatively he could have taken it from one of the classical books he owned. Amongst William's  drawings there are some lovely vignettes eg one of the candle stands depicts a country dance with a violinist, and another an apple tree which a family is harvesting. 

Top image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958
Lower image: Authentic Georgian Furniture Designs, Universal System of Household Furniture 1762 William Ince and John Mayhew 1998 Dover Publications Inc, New York