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Lot Essay
The temple-pedimented frame for the tripartite glass is designed in the George II 'Roman' manner, and evokes the paradise of poets with a mask of Pan, the Arcadian satyr deity, accompanied by a reed-enriched urn. Roman acanthus flowers suspend from the 'tablet' corners of its echinus-moulded frame, which is wreathed by Vitruvian ribbon-scrolls and buttressed by acanthus trusses. Its Pan-mask is tied by scrolled acanthus-wrapped ribbons in the French fashion popularised around 1700 by the published Oeuvre of Daniel Marot, while its tympanum is embellished with foliage issuing from flowered Ionic volutes in a manner of a design for the 'upper part of a Chimney Piece' issued in Abraham Swan's, One Hundred and Fifty New Designs for Chimney Pieces, 1768, pl.19.
This mirror was probably made by the Booker family of Dublin. John Booker (d. 1749) is recorded as a 'glass grinder' at 6 Essex Bridge, Dublin in 1728 and his two sons, Francis (d. 1773) and John (d. 1789) carried on the family business. Francis became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1772. John continued with the firm and he is recorded in Peter Wilson's Dublin Directory until 1786 as a 'Looking glass seller, Essex Bridge' (The Knight of Glin, 'A Family of Looking-glass merchants', Country Life, January 28, 1971, pp. 195-199).
The Bookers are renowned for their architectural mirrors of Kentian style, with Corinthian columns and broken pediments, such as the one sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 27 June, 1985, lot 130, which bore the trade label of Francis Booker. A pair from Charleville, Enniskerry was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 22 March 1979, lot 16, and a further mirror was sold by Mr. and Mrs. E. A. McGuire, from Newtown Park House, Dublin, Christie's house sale, 20 September 1976, lot 53.
Related mirrors with scrolled pediments are illustrated in The Knight of Glin's article on the Booker family (ibid., figs. 4 and 5).
This mirror was probably made by the Booker family of Dublin. John Booker (d. 1749) is recorded as a 'glass grinder' at 6 Essex Bridge, Dublin in 1728 and his two sons, Francis (d. 1773) and John (d. 1789) carried on the family business. Francis became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1772. John continued with the firm and he is recorded in Peter Wilson's Dublin Directory until 1786 as a 'Looking glass seller, Essex Bridge' (The Knight of Glin, 'A Family of Looking-glass merchants', Country Life, January 28, 1971, pp. 195-199).
The Bookers are renowned for their architectural mirrors of Kentian style, with Corinthian columns and broken pediments, such as the one sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 27 June, 1985, lot 130, which bore the trade label of Francis Booker. A pair from Charleville, Enniskerry was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 22 March 1979, lot 16, and a further mirror was sold by Mr. and Mrs. E. A. McGuire, from Newtown Park House, Dublin, Christie's house sale, 20 September 1976, lot 53.
Related mirrors with scrolled pediments are illustrated in The Knight of Glin's article on the Booker family (ibid., figs. 4 and 5).