TWO GEORGE II GILTWOOD MIRRORS

CIRCA 1755, POSSIBLY IRISH

Details

Each with rectangular plate in a pierced scrolling and foliate frame flanked by trailing flowers, the cresting with a lattice panel surmounted by a scrolling acanthus frond, regilt
One: 53 in. (135 cm.) high; 25 1/2 in. (64.5 cm.) wide
The other: 54 in. (137 cm.) high; 26 1/2 in. (67 cm.) wide
Lot Essay

This giltwood mirror in the George II ‘French’ picturesque manner is probably inspired by the designs of Matthias Lock; related designs for mirrors are held in an album entitled Original Designs by Matts Lock, Carver 1740 – 1765, held in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London – in particular no. 2848:56 (bottom right). Lock incorporated trellis/pierced lattice work in mirror designs as seen on the title page of his A New Book of Ornaments for Looking Glass Frames (1st edition c. 1752, reissued in 1769; E. White, Pictorial Dictionary of British 18th Century Furniture Designs, Woodbridge, 2000, p. 342). Trellis work also appears in designs by Lock’s contemporaries such as Thomas Johnson, Thomas Chippendale and John Linnell. Two drawings of mirrors with trellis work decoration by Linnell survive at the V&A– this motif being a characteristic Linnell feature (E. 176-1929; E.170_1929).
A pair of Scottish George III giltwood and carton pierre mirrors with trellis work, possibly supplied to William Duff, created 1st Earl of Fife in 1759, sold Christie’s, London, 19 November 2009, lot 10 (£139,250 inc. premium). An overmantel mirror with trellis work from the collection of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 2nd Duke of Newcastle & 9th Earl of Lincoln (1720-1794) at Clumber, Nottinghamshire, sold Christie’s, London, 7 June 2007, lot 45 (£72,000 inc. premium).