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Lot Essay
In the 1795 Inventory, five pier glasses, obviously with varying sizes of plates and therefore value, are tantalisingly unidentifiable. They comprise a 'Pier Glass Gilt Frame 4.4..0' in Mr. Myddelton's Room, a 'Pier Glass 3.0.0' in the Red Tower Room, a 'Pier glass 0.18.0' in the Nursery, a 'Pier Glass 1.11.6' in the Little Red Tower Room and, finally, a 'Pier Glass 3.0.0' in the Still Room.
The pier-glass is likely to have been commissioned by Sir Richard Myddleton, 3rd Bt (d.1716) or his son Robert (d.1733), one of whom is known to have favoured gilt-gesso furniture as they were responsible for commissioning the magnificent George I gilt-gesso stands for the Florentine pietra dura cabinets bought on the Grand Tour (now in the Saloon at Chirk). Its step-arched cresting reflects the French fashion popularised around 1700 by the engraved 'Oeuvres' of William III's 'architect' Daniel Marot (d.1752). Like the pier-glass (lot 260) it too could have been supplied by the Strand cabinet-maker John Gumley (d.1727), and possibly served as a sconce-glass with accompanying candle-branches.
The pier-glass is likely to have been commissioned by Sir Richard Myddleton, 3rd Bt (d.1716) or his son Robert (d.1733), one of whom is known to have favoured gilt-gesso furniture as they were responsible for commissioning the magnificent George I gilt-gesso stands for the Florentine pietra dura cabinets bought on the Grand Tour (now in the Saloon at Chirk). Its step-arched cresting reflects the French fashion popularised around 1700 by the engraved 'Oeuvres' of William III's 'architect' Daniel Marot (d.1752). Like the pier-glass (lot 260) it too could have been supplied by the Strand cabinet-maker John Gumley (d.1727), and possibly served as a sconce-glass with accompanying candle-branches.