Of very fine quality and carving, with rarely found pierced legs :
 

The rectangular adjustable and ratcheted top with book-rest
above a frieze with a single long drawer opening to the front
and carved to the front with stylized lozenge and bellflower fretwork,
each side and the back carved with vertical concave flutes centering an acanthus leaf rosette,
the ends with half rosettes;
the round standard with wrythen stop-flutes and ring-carving,
descending to pierced cabriole tripod legs with further bell-flower- and lozenge-carved knees
and ending in palmette-carved pad feet;
each side with revolving mahogany candlestands;
the drawer bail brass handle original;
the top bookrest with brass securing tabs on the underside;
the top section removable and on a brass mounted notched standard

Note :

Pierced tripod legs on tables or stands of this weight are quite rare.
Mayhew & Ince are among the few 18th century cabinetmakers who employed this piercing.
The quailty and design of this work can be indeed associated with the body of their work.
Their "Universal System of Household Furniture" (1762-3) illustrates both a series of rococo "tea kettle stands"
with pierced tripod legs (P. XIV), and a tripod reading stand (Pl. XXVI), with optional plain ratcheted top, as above.
The later designs of Mayhew and Ince were more in the Neoclassical styles,
including working with the architect Robert Adam on several notable commissions.

The carving to the frieze and legs on this stand combine both rococo and more subtle neoclassical elements.
 
Condition : Excellent; the quality superb; the surface of the top with apparent repolish,
the balance with original surfaces; brasses and brass fittings apparently original;
the usual small nicks and scratches appropriate to age and usage
 
31.5" High x 25" Wide x 18.5" Deep (Closed)
45.5" High (Extended)
The Tripod : 27.5" Spread

SOLD

#6970