Lot Essay
The serpentined and mirror-bordered pier-glass is designed in the George II 'picturesque' manner with its scrolled, lambrequined and flower-festooned pediment supported on voluted and acanthus-wrapped trusses capped by flowered nymph-heads wearing crescent badges of Diana, the hunter goddess. A festive ribbon-tied sporting trophy, comprising birds and a hare is suspended between rustic branches in its arched typanum, while a hunting trophy with bow and quiver is suspended by a garland. Diana's hounds emerge from a cartouche at its base, and its central finial comprises a tambourine untied with a hunting horn.
The hunting ornaments employed in this mirror feature in designs published by the carver and designer Thomas Johnson (d. circa 1778). Notably, the dead game, hunting hounds and figure of Diana appear in the frontispiece design for his Twelve Gerandoles published in 1755 and a design for a side table in his Collection of Designs of 1758 (see H. Hayward, Thomas Johnson and English Rococo, 1964, figs. 137 and 70). A set of four mirrors of similar design which feature a dead hare suspended from the cresting was supplied to the Duke of Atholl for Dunkeld House in 1761, and a matching set of three was subsequently ordered for the Duke's seat at Blair Castle two years later (see G. Willis, English Looking Glasses, 1965, p.93, fig.78). Documents reveal that carver George Cole of Golden Square, London supplied these mirrors together with matching consoles, and it has been suggested that Cole and Johnson may have collaborated on this commission, as well as one for Corsham Court, Wiltshire (H. Hayward, op.cit., pp. 36-38). Hunting motifs, and voluted herms also appear in the designs of Matthias Lock (d. 1765) published in his Six Sconces (1744) and Six Tables (1746) as well as his drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, 1958, pl. 58).
The hunting ornaments employed in this mirror feature in designs published by the carver and designer Thomas Johnson (d. circa 1778). Notably, the dead game, hunting hounds and figure of Diana appear in the frontispiece design for his Twelve Gerandoles published in 1755 and a design for a side table in his Collection of Designs of 1758 (see H. Hayward, Thomas Johnson and English Rococo, 1964, figs. 137 and 70). A set of four mirrors of similar design which feature a dead hare suspended from the cresting was supplied to the Duke of Atholl for Dunkeld House in 1761, and a matching set of three was subsequently ordered for the Duke's seat at Blair Castle two years later (see G. Willis, English Looking Glasses, 1965, p.93, fig.78). Documents reveal that carver George Cole of Golden Square, London supplied these mirrors together with matching consoles, and it has been suggested that Cole and Johnson may have collaborated on this commission, as well as one for Corsham Court, Wiltshire (H. Hayward, op.cit., pp. 36-38). Hunting motifs, and voluted herms also appear in the designs of Matthias Lock (d. 1765) published in his Six Sconces (1744) and Six Tables (1746) as well as his drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, 1958, pl. 58).