Musical marquetry

Every so often I have wondered about going to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in order to see the Tapestry Room from Croome Court, with the chairs and sofa, and the pier mirror made by Ince & Mayhew.  Looking it up on the website recently I discovered it is no longer on display.  However, there is a cabinet in the museum made by the firm, which has the most amazing marquetry depicting a violin and some music. The cabinet is made of pine and veenered with satinwood, mahogany, burl, yew and purplewood.  It was once in the Sir George Donaldson collection.   The intricacy of this piece is just incredible.  How did they do the strings on the bow? And the notes of the music?  It must have taken hours of painstaking work to produce.  Alas, this piece is not on display either.

I then found an article in the 2016 Mallets catalogue which listed this cabinet along with 7 others all with very similar shape and style, one of which is nearly identical to the one in the Metropolitan Museum.  The top of this one depicts a sheet of music draped over what is probably a recorder or a flute.  Sheer delight!  What artistry!  This piece was offered by Christie’s in the 1994 Sir Michael Sobell collection auction but withdrawn from sale.  It had also been owned by Lilian S Whitmarsh, Sir Anthony de  Rothschild Bt, Aston Clinton and Lord Leverhulme. 

References:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/202256?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=john+mayhew&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=12 (Accessed: 28 Mar 2019)
https://issuu.com/mallett/docs/mallett_2016_catalogue_new_version  pages 116-119 (Accessed: 28 Mar 2019)