CIRCA 1740

The tablet frame with double Venus shell cresting has flowered architectural corners that are buttressed by oak-festooned trusses in the George II Roman manner promoted by the architect William Kent (d. 1748). The design relates to the work of John Vardy, who published Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, in 1744. A similarly framed mirror although with an Apollo mask cresting was sold anonymously; Christie's, London, 30 November 2000, lot 59. Another mid-eighteenth century mirror with a very similar double-shell cresting is illustrated in G. Child, World Mirrors, 1650-1900, London, 1990, p. 84, fig. 77.