Lot Essay
A similar flower-wreathed mirror frame, richly fretted and carved with cupid's companions harvesting fruit, bears the arms granted in 1664 to Gough of Old Fallings Hall and Perry Hall, Staffordshire. The mirror, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. II, rev. ed., London, 1954, p. 313, fig. 7. Mirrors carved with 'boyes' were recorded in the 1675 inventory of the cabinet-maker Edward Traherne's shop and, judging by the quantity listed, were considered to be one of the most popular patterns. A similar mirror is illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714: From Charles II to Queen Anne, Woodbridge, 2002, p. 140, pl. 4:63.