A George III mahogany, rosewood crossbanded, purplewood and fruitwood marquetry secretaire on stand Circa 1785, in the manner of Ince and Mayhew With boxwood and ebonised stringing, the upper section with one long tablet inlaid and mahogany lined frieze drawer, above a hinged fall inlaid with an Arabesque comprised of an olive leaf swagged acanthus spray with a foliate socle and column terminating in an opposing rams' mask adorned pedestal, enclosing six arched pigeon holes over two long and six short harewood veneered, tulipwood crossbanded and mahogany lined drawers, with a central arched recess, over one dummy drawer, on square tapering legs inlaid with olive leaf pendants, 57.5cm wide x 44cm deep x 127cm high, (22 1/2in wide x 17in deep x 50in high) Footnotes: The design and rendering of the marquetry to the fall front on the offered lot is closely comparable to that on one of the rear door panels on a pedestal desk made by Ince and Mayhew on behalf of Warren Hastings, circa 1790. This latter piece appears illustrated in C. Cator and H. Roberts, Industry and Ingenuity, The Partnership of William Ince and John Mayhew, 2022, London and Dublin, fig.'s 88 & 89, p.286. Furthermore, the use of ebonised mouldings is a recurrent element among much of the hugely varied output of this renowned cabinet making partnership. The top edge of the 'table-form' stand on the present secretaire employs exactly this type of ebonised moulding. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: TP Y TP For auctions held in Scotland: Please refer to the catalogue and/or after-sale information or contact Edinburgh@Bonhams.com for more information. For all other auctions: Lots will be moved to an offsite storage location (The Packengers, Unit 9, Abbey Mead Industrial Park, Brooker Road, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1HU, England, UK) and will only be available for collection from this location at the date stated in the catalogue and/or after-sale information, sent out to all buyers post-sale. Please note transfer and storage charges will apply to any lots not collected after 10 calendar days from the auction date. Y Subject to CITES regulations when exporting items outside of the UK, see clause 13. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing