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Lot Essay
The nascent dolphin crest is borne by a number of families including the Kennedys (Ailsa) of Culzean and Cassilis, the Courtenays (Devon) of Powderham and the Godolphins of Rialton and Helston, Cornwall. By virtue of their position at court, the Godolphins most likely commissioned these mirrors. The 2nd Earl Godolphin (1678-1766), Cofferer to Her Majesty, was appointed Groom of the Stole and First Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1723 and Governor of the Scilly Isles in 1733. His only surviving daughter and eventual sole heiress Mary married the 4th Duke of Leeds of Hornby Castle, Yorkshire in 1740. The contents of Hornby were dispersed between 1920 and 1930.
Apart from the crestings, these pier-glasses are almost identical to the two supplied by John Belchier (d.1753), working at the 'Sun' at St. Paul's Churchyard, to John Meller in 1723 and 1726 for the two best bedchambers at Erddig Park, Denbighshire, Wales (now in the Saloon) at a cost of 36 and 50 respectively (M. Waterson, Erddig Guidebook, 1977, p. 18). The gadrooned frames, birds' masks and the distinctive broad scrolls are all directly parallelled on the Erddig mirrors (one illustrated in R. Edwards and M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers. rev. edn., London, 1955, p.137, fig. 36). Another mirror from the collection of Judge Irwin Untermyer and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art also shares these characteristics (illustrated in Y.Hackenbroch, ed., English Furniture with some furniture of other countries in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958, pl.137).
Apart from the crestings, these pier-glasses are almost identical to the two supplied by John Belchier (d.1753), working at the 'Sun' at St. Paul's Churchyard, to John Meller in 1723 and 1726 for the two best bedchambers at Erddig Park, Denbighshire, Wales (now in the Saloon) at a cost of 36 and 50 respectively (M. Waterson, Erddig Guidebook, 1977, p. 18). The gadrooned frames, birds' masks and the distinctive broad scrolls are all directly parallelled on the Erddig mirrors (one illustrated in R. Edwards and M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers. rev. edn., London, 1955, p.137, fig. 36). Another mirror from the collection of Judge Irwin Untermyer and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art also shares these characteristics (illustrated in Y.Hackenbroch, ed., English Furniture with some furniture of other countries in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1958, pl.137).