A GEORGE II GILTWOOD MIRROR

CIRCA 1735

Details

A GEORGE II GILTWOOD MIRROR
Circa 1735
The rectangular plate within a rectangular surround with egg-and-dart outer edge and ribbon-tied inner edge, the crest with raised tablet centered by a drapery swag hung with flowers and flanked by foliate scrolls, the whole surmounted by a Neptune mask within a scallop shell and flanked by sprays of reeds and husk chains, the sides with pendant foliage, the scrolled base with a nymph mask above a stylized shell carved in low relief and flanked by outset cornucopia-scrolled corners
90in. (228.6cm.) high, 45in. (114.5cm.) wide

Lot Essay

This tablet frame is embellished in the George II Roman manner promoted by the architect William Kent (d.1748). It relates to an Apollo-headed mirror that was supplied in the 1730s for Ragley Hall, Worcestershire while its mask displayed in a feathered scalloped cartouche relates to that of a mirror supplied in the 1730s to Frederick Prince of Wales (see R. Edwards, ed., The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, pp. 363-364, figs.40-41).

A related mirror possibly made for Sir Richard Hoare, of Barns Elms by William Linnell and now at Stourhead is illustrated in H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol.II, p.92, fig.177. Another similar was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 30 November 2000, lot 59 (£25,000). Another surmounted by a shell cartouche with Neptune mask was sold by the late Mrs. S. Winkworth, Sotheby's London, 26 May 1967.