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Giltwood mirrors

Giltwood mirrors are carved wooden mirrors finished in gold leaf. Produced mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries, antique giltwood mirrors appear in a range of styles, from richly decorative Rococo designs to more restrained classical and neoclassical forms. The gilded frames are often carved with scrolling foliage, shell motifs or architectural detail, enhancing their visual impact within an interior. Their combination of carved wood, gilded surface and decorative form gives them a strong presence as both functional objects and ornamental focal points.

A PAIR OF VICTORIAN GILTWOOD AND GILT-COMPOSITION FIVE-LIGHT OVAL GIRANDOLES

SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

A GEORGE II GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR

BY WILLIAM AND JOHN LINNELL, CIRCA 1752-1753

A TURIN ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, IVORY AND PARQUETRY BUREAU CABINET attributed to Pietro Piffetti, inlaid overall with ebony and ivory banding and with ivory stars upon a trellis pattern, in two sections, the waved cornice headed by a scallop shell centred by roses and foliate scrolls flanked by volutes carved with acanthus above a glazed cartouche-shaped door with parcel-gilt slip and scrolled apron carved with a rockwork cartouche, the red velvet-lined interior with later mirrored back and two shelves, the canted angles headed by acanthus scrolls on scrolled feet carved with carnations, the bombe base with shaped fall-front carved in the form of a scallop shell centred by a scroll filled with scallop shells and enclosing a walnut-lined interior with four short and one long walnut-lined drawer, four pigeon-holes and four secret drawers, the angles carved with scallop shells, roses and acanthus above one slightly-concave long drawer flanked by two short spring-loaded drawers above a recessed bow centred by a door carved with a scallop shell and a flwoerhead flanked by a pair of doors inlaid sans traverse on either side, with waved apron on cabriole legs and scrolled feet, lacking one rosette, circa 1765, the door probably originally mirrored 33½in. (85cm.) wide; 90¾in. (230.5cm.) high; 18½in. (47cm.) deep

A PAIR OF QUEEN ANNE SCARLET AND GILT-JAPANNED GIRANDOLES, each with arched shaped rectangular bevelled plate within a bevelled mirrored outer border framed by foliate trailed slips, the base with three brass ring-turned candle-fittings, the candle sockets and sconce backplates replaced, with modern glass candle-branches