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Lot Essay
The present pair of pier-glasses are designed in Louis XV picturesque manner, with their rusticated columns, and serpentined and flowered frames supported an arched frame surmounted by a pagoda with foliated canopy. Their design relates to a pattern for 'a pier-glass & table' in Ince and Mayhew's Universal System of Household Furniture of 1762, plate LXXXII. The foliate branches on the design incorporate candlearms lacking on the present pair and further features a pair of chinese figures at the base. Another related mirror is illustrated in situ in the East Drawing-Room of Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire (C. Latham, In English Homes, London, 1908, Vol. II, p. 381).
The unusually wide proportions of these mirrors and the fact that the large central plates have been replaced may indicate that these may have once framed chinese mirror-paintings which would be in keeping with their overall design.
The unusually wide proportions of these mirrors and the fact that the large central plates have been replaced may indicate that these may have once framed chinese mirror-paintings which would be in keeping with their overall design.