Lot 122
122
A REGENCY GREY-PAINTED AN PARCEL-GILT CHEVAL MIRROR
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
A REGENCY GREY-PAINTED AN PARCEL-GILT CHEVAL MIRROR

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details
A REGENCY GREY-PAINTED AN PARCEL-GILT CHEVAL MIRROR
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
With a triangular pediment, draped Egyptian mask capitals and panelled anthemion and rosette supports with paw feet, with brass candle-branches, lacking central plate
71 in. (181 cm.) high
Provenance
Almost certainly commissioned by John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (d.1839).
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This cheval dressing glass is likely to have been commissioned by John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (d.1839). Its form derives from the French dressing-mirror (ecran de toilette) or 'miroir a la Psyche', being named after Cupid's love Psyche, who attended at the 'toilet of Venus' according to Apuleius's famous romance, the 'Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass'. One such Egyptian 'Psyche' featured in La Mesangère's Collection de Meubles et Objets du Gout, Paris, 1807 (pl.152). George Smith's, Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, 1808 (pl. 127) also illustrated a related Egyptian patterned 'Cheval Dressing Glass', whose Egyptian hermed pillars were similarly supported on paws, to evoke the chimerical griffin that were sacred to the poetry deity Apollo.

More from PROPERTY FROM TWO DUCAL COLLECTIONS, WOBURN ABBEY, BEDFORD

View All
View All