.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The triumphal-arched and temple-pedimented mirror, with Venus-shell badge framed by flowered Ionic volutes, is designed in the Roman fashion of Inigo Jones (d. 1652) popularised by the court architect William Kent (d. 1748). It relates to a design by Kent (now at Chatsworth) for the pair of mirrors that were supplied to Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) for the gallery at Chiswick House, Middlesex. The Chiswick mirrors have very similar detailing, with flowered ribbon guilloché and originally stood above a pair of giltwood side tables with 'mosaic pavement' specimen marble tops. The carving of the side tables is attributed to John Boson and Giovanni Battista Guelfi and have swags of oak garlands that are also very similar to the present lot. The tables were sold from the Bute Collection, Christie's, London, 3 July 1997, lot 35 and are now on display at Chiswick House along with copies of the original mirrors which appear in an old photograph (see Christie's catalogue entry, p. 86 and R. Hewlings, Chiswick House and Gardens, London, 1989, p. 10).
THE PROVENANCE
This mirror, was acquired in the early 20th century by the collector/connoisseur William Hesketh Lever, later 1st Viscount Leverhulme (d. 1925), and displayed around 1911 at his Hulme Art Gallery, in Port Sunlight Village before being moved in the 1920s to his London house, The Hill, Hampstead.
Lord Leverhulme, the Sunlight Soap magnate, began by collecting English oak followed by 18th century French furniture. By the 1890s he committed himself to forming a collection representative of the best of British art - an endeavor that lasted for the last thirty years of his life. His particular passion for neoclassical English furniture of the late 18th century was virtually unparalleled at the time, but fully evident by the turn-of-the-century at his homes at Thornton Manor, Merseyside and The Hill in Hampstead. His exceptional collection of furniture is only one manifestation of his passion for the English arts that are now largely housed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a house museum that he established in Port Sunlight in 1922. The Gallery to this day displays the most exceptional examples of English furniture, needlework, and ceramics among other disciplines.
THE PROVENANCE
This mirror, was acquired in the early 20th century by the collector/connoisseur William Hesketh Lever, later 1st Viscount Leverhulme (d. 1925), and displayed around 1911 at his Hulme Art Gallery, in Port Sunlight Village before being moved in the 1920s to his London house, The Hill, Hampstead.
Lord Leverhulme, the Sunlight Soap magnate, began by collecting English oak followed by 18th century French furniture. By the 1890s he committed himself to forming a collection representative of the best of British art - an endeavor that lasted for the last thirty years of his life. His particular passion for neoclassical English furniture of the late 18th century was virtually unparalleled at the time, but fully evident by the turn-of-the-century at his homes at Thornton Manor, Merseyside and The Hill in Hampstead. His exceptional collection of furniture is only one manifestation of his passion for the English arts that are now largely housed in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a house museum that he established in Port Sunlight in 1922. The Gallery to this day displays the most exceptional examples of English furniture, needlework, and ceramics among other disciplines.