Croome Court Tapestry Room

I was pleased to read that the Metropolitan Museum in New York will be opening its new British Galleries early in 2020 and that the Croome Court Tapestry Room will be included.  This includes the Ince & Mayhew furniture made for the Earl of Coventry in 1769-1771: two settees and six armchairs covered with tapestry from Gobelins in Paris with oval medallions which are reflected in the chair backs.   Apparently Chippendale provided the dust covers for this furniture, including chamois stockings for the gilt legs.  Ince & Mayhew also supplied the carved and gilt-framed mirror with a shell at the top.  This was made in the very best double burnished gold, which means it would have had two coats of water gilding over the gesso and parts of the gold would have been heightened by burnishing.

I have been in touch with the curator, Wolf Burchard, and asked him if any documentation could include  the birth year of William Ince and give him at least equal billing with John Mayhew as he was the craftsman in the partnership.   I also mentioned my preference that the firm be called Ince & Mayhew, rather than Mayhew and Ince, and he is kindly going to check with Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator for their professional opinion.   He will see if the Met Museum's Collection database can be updated as well.

References: Croome Court Conservation Management & Maintenance Plan