.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
These mirrors, and the further pair from the same source, may well have been supplied to Thomas Robinson (d. 1770), either for Studley Royal or Newby (now Baldersby) Park, Yorkshire. Raised to the peerage as Baron Grantham in 1761, Robinson had a distinguished diplomatic and political career, culminating in his appointments as Master of the Wardrobe to Geroge II between 1749-54 and 1755-60 and as one of the Regents of the Realm in 1755. Newby Park had been built by his father, Sir William Robinson (d. 1736) to designs by Colen Campbell around 1720-8 and although Thomas Robinson's wife, the scion of another Yorkshire dynasty, Frances Worsley of Hovingham, had died in 1760, he continued to make improvements to Newby as late as 1765, when he commissioned Sir William Chambers to erect a Pheasantry and Menagerie. Likewise, Studley Royal had been commissioned almost simultaneously by Sir William's father-in-law, John Aislabie, from Campbell circa 1730. Although Newby (renamed Baldersby) Park was later tragically destroyed by fire in 1902, the contents had been removed with the sale of the house by Thomas, 3rd Baron Grantham and Earl de Grey in 1845 and in that same year, his brother the Prime Minister Frederick, later 1st Earl of Ripon (d. 1859) inherited the Studley estate. As the mirrors were at Studley Royal in the 20th Century (illustrated in Country Life, op. cit.), it would seem that Studley, as opposed to Newby (Baldersby) Park, is the most likely provenance, although the contents of the latter may well have been divided as the 3rd Baron Grantham had already inherited both Wrest Park and Newby Hall.
Conceived in the 'Chinese Chippendale' style popularized by the publication of Thomas Chippendale's (d. 1779) Director, designs related to this pair of pier-glasses are featured in contemporary pattern books issued by Thomas Johnson (Twelve Gerandoles, 1755), Matthias Lock (Six Sconces, 1744) and Edwards and Darly (A New Book of Chinese Designs, 1754), and Chippendale included a very similar design in the 1754 Director, plate CXLIII. They are comparable to a pair of mirrors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art formerly in the collection of the Earls of Winterton at Shillinglee Park, Petworth, Sussex (Accession No.: 55.43.1, 2), and also to a pair of pier glasses carved with entwined foliage, and a pagoda crest, at Shugborough, Staffordshire, attributed by the National Trust to Chippendale (NT Inventory Nos.: 1270823.1.1 and 1.2). A pair of giltwood mirrors with related ornamentation sold Christie's New York, 12 April 1996, lot 58 for $354,500 (inc. prem.) having almost certainly belonged to the Earls of Harrington at Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire.
Conceived in the 'Chinese Chippendale' style popularized by the publication of Thomas Chippendale's (d. 1779) Director, designs related to this pair of pier-glasses are featured in contemporary pattern books issued by Thomas Johnson (Twelve Gerandoles, 1755), Matthias Lock (Six Sconces, 1744) and Edwards and Darly (A New Book of Chinese Designs, 1754), and Chippendale included a very similar design in the 1754 Director, plate CXLIII. They are comparable to a pair of mirrors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art formerly in the collection of the Earls of Winterton at Shillinglee Park, Petworth, Sussex (Accession No.: 55.43.1, 2), and also to a pair of pier glasses carved with entwined foliage, and a pagoda crest, at Shugborough, Staffordshire, attributed by the National Trust to Chippendale (NT Inventory Nos.: 1270823.1.1 and 1.2). A pair of giltwood mirrors with related ornamentation sold Christie's New York, 12 April 1996, lot 58 for $354,500 (inc. prem.) having almost certainly belonged to the Earls of Harrington at Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire.