Provenance: Scholar-collector John Hardy.

John Cobb (1715–1778) worked in premises at 72 St Martin's Lane, London. He completed his apprenticeship in 1736 and went into partnership with William Vile in 1751. Upon Vile's retirement in 1764 Cobb took over the firm. At this time Cobb took a managerial role and was primarily concerned with design and quality control. A change in direction was required to meet competition from other London firms such as Thomas Chippendale and John Linnell The neo-classical taste gradually took hold from the mid 1760s, first in an increasingly refined vocabulary of marquetry decoration applied to the bombé and serpentine forms of the 'French manner' of the 1750s introduced to London by Pierre Langlois and popularised by Chippendale's Director.