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拍品專文
THIS EXCEPTIONAL MIRROR OR 'CHYMNEY GLASS' IS AN ACCOMPLISHED AMALGAM OF CHINESE, ROCOCO AND CLASSICAL DESIGN. LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED FOR A FASHIONABLE CHINESE-STYLE BEDROOM, THE FRAME IS BEAUTIFULLY CONCEIVED WITH DEEP FLUID CARVING THAT EFFECTIVELY SHOWCASES THE CHINESE MIRROR PAINTINGS WITHIN. THE FRAME WAS UNDOUBTEDLY MADE BY ONE OF LONDON'S PRE-EMINENT CABINET-MAKERS SUCH AS THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, JOHN LINNELL OR THE PARTNERSHIP OF SAMUEL NORMAN AND JAMES WHITTLE. THE MIRROR PAINTINGS WERE PROBABLY THE PATRON'S OWN (NOTE CHIPPENDALE'S 1767 INVOICE TO SIR ROWLAND WINN AT NOSTELL PRIORY: 'TO 2 OVAL GLASS FRAMES RICHLY CARVD GILT IN BURNISH GOLD AND GLASS BORDER D & CUTTING & FIXING YOUR OWN GLASSES IN DITTO') (C. GILBERT, THE LIFE AND WORK OF THOMAS CHIPPENDALE, LONDON, 1978, VOL. I, P. 186). THIS CAN BE COMPARED TO THE PRACTICE WHERE PATRONS WERE EXPECTED TO SUPPLY ORIENTAL LACQUER PANELS TO BE REFASHIONED AS VENEER ON CASE PIECES.
AN OVERMANTEL WITH SIMILARLY SPIRITED CARVING AND CLASSICAL OVERTURES MAY HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED FOR SIR ROBERT BURDETT (D. 1797) AT FOREMARK HALL, DERBYSHIRE, WHICH WAS A SIGNIFICANT CHIPPENDALE COMMISSION ALTHOUGH THE BILLS, WHICH DATE FROM 1766-1774, ARE UNSPECIFIC (A. COLERIDGE, 'THOMAS CHIPPENDALE AND FOREMARK HALL', FURNITURE HISTORY, 1997, PP.136-141). IT IS NOW IN THE COLLECTION OF HIS DESCENDENT, SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, BT. AT RAMSBURY MANOR, WILTSHIRE AND ILLUSTRATED IN P. MACQUOID, THE AGE OF SATINWOOD, NEW YORK, 1908, P. 41, FIG. 34. CHIPPENDALE'S 1771 OVERMANTEL FOR THE CHINESE-STYLED STATE BEDROOM SUITE AT NOSTELL PRIORY SHOWS A MORE CLASSICALLY EVOLVED DESIGN WITH SIMILAR STYLIZED PALMETTES AROUND AN INNER OVAL FRAME (C. GILBERT, OP. CIT., VOL. II, FIG. 308). ANOTHER POSSIBLE MAKER IS THE PARTNERSHIP OF CARVER JAMES WHITTLE (D. 1759) AND SAMUEL NORMAN (D. 1767) WHO SUPPLIED EXTRAORDARY WORK FOR THE 2ND EARL OF EGREMONT AT PETWORTH HOUSE, SUSSEX. THIS INCLUDES A STATE BED WHOSE CUSP-PIERCED FOLIATE CORNICE COMPARES CLOSELY TO THE CRESTING ON THIS MIRROR, AND A SCROLL-FRAMED PIER GLASS WITH DISPLAYED BIRD IN THE LITTLE DINING ROOM (SEE J. CORNFORTH, EARLY GEORGIAN INTERIORS, NEW HAVEN, 2004, PP. 55 AND 90, FIGS. 64 AND 114.)
THE CHINESE MIRROR PAINTINGS ARE BEAUTIFULLY RENDERED AND DISPLAY THE RANGE OF DESIGNS PRODUCED AT THE TIME (THE DEPICTION OF A CLOCK IN ONE OF THE LOWER PLATES IS APPARENTLY UNIQUE.) THE CHINESE TECHNIQUE OF REVERSE-PAINTING MIRRORS IS REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED BY JESUIT FATHER, GIUSEPPE CASTIGLIONE (D.1766) WHO ARRIVED IN PEKING IN 1715. THE PLATES WERE OFTEN IMPORTED FROM EUROPE. A CHINESE ARTIST WOULD THEN SELECTIVELY REMOVE THE MERCURY BACKING AND CREATE THE PICTURE FROM THE REVERSE BEFORE SENDING THE PLATES BACK HOME TO EUROPE. THE ENTHUSIASM FOR 'BACK PAINTING' REFLECTS THE CONTINUED FASCINATION FOR EXOTIC OBJECTS IMPORTED BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY COMBINED WITH THE FASHION FOR THE 'PICTURESQUE' AS EVIDENT IN THIS MIRROR. FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES (D.1752) DECORATED HIS GALLERY IN THE STATE APARTMENTS WITH 'FOUR LARGE PAINTED LOOKING GLASSES FROM CHINA' FOR THE WINDOW-PIERS ACCORDING TO A DESCRIPTION OF WILLIAM KENT'S WORK AT KEW (SIR WILLIAM CHAMBERS' PLANS, ELEVATIONS, ETC. OF THE GARDENS AND BUILDINGS AT KEW, 1763, P.2.)
THE PROVENANCE
ALICE FREDERICA KEPPEL, WIFE TO GEORGE KEPPEL AND FAVORITE MISTRESS OF KING EDWARD VII, WAS A PROMINENT BRITISH SOCIALITE RECOGNIZED NOT ONLY FOR HER CLASSIC BEAUTY BUT ALSO FOR HER KEEN SENSE OF HUMOR AND MAGNETIC PERSONALITY. SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER (AND ONE OF NINE CHILDREN) OF SIR WILLIAM EDMONSTONE, 4TH BARONET AND GREW UP AT DUNTREATH CASTLE IN SCOTLAND. WHEN ALICE WAS JUST TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD, SHE MARRIED THE HON. GEORGE KEPPEL, A SON TO THE 7TH EARL OF ABEMARLE, TO WHOM SHE WOULD REMAIN LOVINGLY DEVOTED TO FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE DESPITE BECOMING CONFIDANTE TO KING EDWARD VII JUST SEVEN YEARS LATER. IN 1898, THE TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD ALICE KEPPEL MET EDWARD VII, THEN PRINCE OF WALES AND HEIR TO THE THRONE, WHO WAS TWENTY SEVEN YEARS HER SENIOR. IT WAS LIKELY KEPPEL'S 'DISARMING BLUE EYES, CHARM, VIVACITY, HUMOUR, DIRECTNESS, CONFIDENCE, [AND] RIPE CURVES' THAT INITIALLY ATTRACTED EDWARD TO ALICE, THOUGH LATER IT WOULD BE HER DIPLOMATIC DEMEANOR THAT PROMPTED EDWARD TO CONSIDER ALICE HIS 'FAVORITA' AND PROCLAIM HER HIS OFFICIAL MISTRESS (D. SOUHAMI, MRS. KEPPEL AND HER DAUGHTER, NEW YORK, 1996, P. 20.) ALICE BY NO MEANS PLAYED AN INCONSPICUOUS ROLE IN EDWARD'S COURT. HER SOCIAL PROWESS AND INTOXICATING PERSONALITY FASHIONED HER AS ONE OF LONDON'S PRE-EMINENT HOSTESSES. ALICE REGULARLY TOOK HOLIDAYS WITH 'BERTIE' TO PARIS, MARIENBAD AND BIARRITZ, SAILED WITH HIM ON HIS ROYAL YACHT AND ACCOMPANIED HIM AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE FOR ROYAL FETES. SHE INVITED THE KING TO AFTERNOON TEA AND ORGANIZED LAVISH DINNER PARTIES AT HER HOME AT 30 PORTMAN SQUARE WHERE SHE ENTERTAINED OTHER IMPORTANT COURT FIGURES.
AFTER KING EDWARD VII'S DEATH IN 1910, ALICE AND HER HUSBAND EMBARKED ON A TWO-YEAR JOURNEY TO CEYLON AND DAMBOTENNE, CHINA, WHERE THEY ACQUIRED VARIOUS TREASURES. UPON THEIR RETURN TO LONDON, THEY MOVED INTO THEIR MANSION AT 16 GROSVENOR STREET IN MAYFAIR WHICH WAS NEWLY REFURBISHED AND NOTABLY FEATURED ROOMS INSPIRED BY DIFFERENT CULTURES. NEW EXOTIC ACQUISITIONS MINGLED WITH CHIPPENDALE CHINOISERIE FURNITURE, PORCELAIN, COROMANDEL SCREENS AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTED SILK PANELS (OP. CIT., PP. 104-105). KEPPEL'S DAUGHTER, SONIA, NOTED THAT THESE EXOTIC PIECES OF FURNITURE DEMONSTRATED HER MOTHER'S 'MATURED TASTE AND KNOWLEDGE'. IT IS CONCEIVABLE THAT THE OVERMANTEL WAS ACQUIRED FROM LONDON'S PROMINENT DESIGN/DEALER FIRM OF LENYGON & MORANT, WITH WHOM MRS. KEPPEL HAD DEALINGS. THE FIRM SUPPLIED AUTHENTIC AND REPRODUCTION INTERIORS FOR THE FASHIONABLE SOCIETY IN ENGLAND, AND LATER THE UNITED STATES, AND NOTABLY, HELD A ROYAL WARRANT UNDER EDWARD'S REIGN (J. HARRIS, MOVING ROOMS, NEW HAVEN, 2007, P. 105).
BY 1927, THE KEPPELS SOLD THEIR PROPERTY AND BOUGHT A PICTURESQUE TUSCAN PROPERTY, LA VILLA DELL'OMBRELLINO IN BELLOGOSUARDO, JUST OUTSIDE FLORENCE. IT WAS HERE WHERE GEORGE AND ALICE WOULD SPEND MOST OF THE REST OF THEIR LIVES TRAVELING SPORADICALLY BACK TO LONDON DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. SHE CONTINUED HER COVETED ROLE AS ROYAL HOSTESS, ENTERTAINING BRITISH AND GREEK ROYAL FAMILIES AND WINSTON CHURCHILL, WHO REPORTEDLY SAT ON THE KEPPEL'S TERRACE TO PAINT THE DUOMO. THE MIRROR DESCENDED WITHIN THE FAMILY UNTIL SOLD IN 1991.
AN OVERMANTEL WITH SIMILARLY SPIRITED CARVING AND CLASSICAL OVERTURES MAY HAVE BEEN SUPPLIED FOR SIR ROBERT BURDETT (D. 1797) AT FOREMARK HALL, DERBYSHIRE, WHICH WAS A SIGNIFICANT CHIPPENDALE COMMISSION ALTHOUGH THE BILLS, WHICH DATE FROM 1766-1774, ARE UNSPECIFIC (A. COLERIDGE, 'THOMAS CHIPPENDALE AND FOREMARK HALL', FURNITURE HISTORY, 1997, PP.136-141). IT IS NOW IN THE COLLECTION OF HIS DESCENDENT, SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, BT. AT RAMSBURY MANOR, WILTSHIRE AND ILLUSTRATED IN P. MACQUOID, THE AGE OF SATINWOOD, NEW YORK, 1908, P. 41, FIG. 34. CHIPPENDALE'S 1771 OVERMANTEL FOR THE CHINESE-STYLED STATE BEDROOM SUITE AT NOSTELL PRIORY SHOWS A MORE CLASSICALLY EVOLVED DESIGN WITH SIMILAR STYLIZED PALMETTES AROUND AN INNER OVAL FRAME (C. GILBERT, OP. CIT., VOL. II, FIG. 308). ANOTHER POSSIBLE MAKER IS THE PARTNERSHIP OF CARVER JAMES WHITTLE (D. 1759) AND SAMUEL NORMAN (D. 1767) WHO SUPPLIED EXTRAORDARY WORK FOR THE 2ND EARL OF EGREMONT AT PETWORTH HOUSE, SUSSEX. THIS INCLUDES A STATE BED WHOSE CUSP-PIERCED FOLIATE CORNICE COMPARES CLOSELY TO THE CRESTING ON THIS MIRROR, AND A SCROLL-FRAMED PIER GLASS WITH DISPLAYED BIRD IN THE LITTLE DINING ROOM (SEE J. CORNFORTH, EARLY GEORGIAN INTERIORS, NEW HAVEN, 2004, PP. 55 AND 90, FIGS. 64 AND 114.)
THE CHINESE MIRROR PAINTINGS ARE BEAUTIFULLY RENDERED AND DISPLAY THE RANGE OF DESIGNS PRODUCED AT THE TIME (THE DEPICTION OF A CLOCK IN ONE OF THE LOWER PLATES IS APPARENTLY UNIQUE.) THE CHINESE TECHNIQUE OF REVERSE-PAINTING MIRRORS IS REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED BY JESUIT FATHER, GIUSEPPE CASTIGLIONE (D.1766) WHO ARRIVED IN PEKING IN 1715. THE PLATES WERE OFTEN IMPORTED FROM EUROPE. A CHINESE ARTIST WOULD THEN SELECTIVELY REMOVE THE MERCURY BACKING AND CREATE THE PICTURE FROM THE REVERSE BEFORE SENDING THE PLATES BACK HOME TO EUROPE. THE ENTHUSIASM FOR 'BACK PAINTING' REFLECTS THE CONTINUED FASCINATION FOR EXOTIC OBJECTS IMPORTED BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY COMBINED WITH THE FASHION FOR THE 'PICTURESQUE' AS EVIDENT IN THIS MIRROR. FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES (D.1752) DECORATED HIS GALLERY IN THE STATE APARTMENTS WITH 'FOUR LARGE PAINTED LOOKING GLASSES FROM CHINA' FOR THE WINDOW-PIERS ACCORDING TO A DESCRIPTION OF WILLIAM KENT'S WORK AT KEW (SIR WILLIAM CHAMBERS' PLANS, ELEVATIONS, ETC. OF THE GARDENS AND BUILDINGS AT KEW, 1763, P.2.)
THE PROVENANCE
ALICE FREDERICA KEPPEL, WIFE TO GEORGE KEPPEL AND FAVORITE MISTRESS OF KING EDWARD VII, WAS A PROMINENT BRITISH SOCIALITE RECOGNIZED NOT ONLY FOR HER CLASSIC BEAUTY BUT ALSO FOR HER KEEN SENSE OF HUMOR AND MAGNETIC PERSONALITY. SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER (AND ONE OF NINE CHILDREN) OF SIR WILLIAM EDMONSTONE, 4TH BARONET AND GREW UP AT DUNTREATH CASTLE IN SCOTLAND. WHEN ALICE WAS JUST TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD, SHE MARRIED THE HON. GEORGE KEPPEL, A SON TO THE 7TH EARL OF ABEMARLE, TO WHOM SHE WOULD REMAIN LOVINGLY DEVOTED TO FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE DESPITE BECOMING CONFIDANTE TO KING EDWARD VII JUST SEVEN YEARS LATER. IN 1898, THE TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD ALICE KEPPEL MET EDWARD VII, THEN PRINCE OF WALES AND HEIR TO THE THRONE, WHO WAS TWENTY SEVEN YEARS HER SENIOR. IT WAS LIKELY KEPPEL'S 'DISARMING BLUE EYES, CHARM, VIVACITY, HUMOUR, DIRECTNESS, CONFIDENCE, [AND] RIPE CURVES' THAT INITIALLY ATTRACTED EDWARD TO ALICE, THOUGH LATER IT WOULD BE HER DIPLOMATIC DEMEANOR THAT PROMPTED EDWARD TO CONSIDER ALICE HIS 'FAVORITA' AND PROCLAIM HER HIS OFFICIAL MISTRESS (D. SOUHAMI, MRS. KEPPEL AND HER DAUGHTER, NEW YORK, 1996, P. 20.) ALICE BY NO MEANS PLAYED AN INCONSPICUOUS ROLE IN EDWARD'S COURT. HER SOCIAL PROWESS AND INTOXICATING PERSONALITY FASHIONED HER AS ONE OF LONDON'S PRE-EMINENT HOSTESSES. ALICE REGULARLY TOOK HOLIDAYS WITH 'BERTIE' TO PARIS, MARIENBAD AND BIARRITZ, SAILED WITH HIM ON HIS ROYAL YACHT AND ACCOMPANIED HIM AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE FOR ROYAL FETES. SHE INVITED THE KING TO AFTERNOON TEA AND ORGANIZED LAVISH DINNER PARTIES AT HER HOME AT 30 PORTMAN SQUARE WHERE SHE ENTERTAINED OTHER IMPORTANT COURT FIGURES.
AFTER KING EDWARD VII'S DEATH IN 1910, ALICE AND HER HUSBAND EMBARKED ON A TWO-YEAR JOURNEY TO CEYLON AND DAMBOTENNE, CHINA, WHERE THEY ACQUIRED VARIOUS TREASURES. UPON THEIR RETURN TO LONDON, THEY MOVED INTO THEIR MANSION AT 16 GROSVENOR STREET IN MAYFAIR WHICH WAS NEWLY REFURBISHED AND NOTABLY FEATURED ROOMS INSPIRED BY DIFFERENT CULTURES. NEW EXOTIC ACQUISITIONS MINGLED WITH CHIPPENDALE CHINOISERIE FURNITURE, PORCELAIN, COROMANDEL SCREENS AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTED SILK PANELS (OP. CIT., PP. 104-105). KEPPEL'S DAUGHTER, SONIA, NOTED THAT THESE EXOTIC PIECES OF FURNITURE DEMONSTRATED HER MOTHER'S 'MATURED TASTE AND KNOWLEDGE'. IT IS CONCEIVABLE THAT THE OVERMANTEL WAS ACQUIRED FROM LONDON'S PROMINENT DESIGN/DEALER FIRM OF LENYGON & MORANT, WITH WHOM MRS. KEPPEL HAD DEALINGS. THE FIRM SUPPLIED AUTHENTIC AND REPRODUCTION INTERIORS FOR THE FASHIONABLE SOCIETY IN ENGLAND, AND LATER THE UNITED STATES, AND NOTABLY, HELD A ROYAL WARRANT UNDER EDWARD'S REIGN (J. HARRIS, MOVING ROOMS, NEW HAVEN, 2007, P. 105).
BY 1927, THE KEPPELS SOLD THEIR PROPERTY AND BOUGHT A PICTURESQUE TUSCAN PROPERTY, LA VILLA DELL'OMBRELLINO IN BELLOGOSUARDO, JUST OUTSIDE FLORENCE. IT WAS HERE WHERE GEORGE AND ALICE WOULD SPEND MOST OF THE REST OF THEIR LIVES TRAVELING SPORADICALLY BACK TO LONDON DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. SHE CONTINUED HER COVETED ROLE AS ROYAL HOSTESS, ENTERTAINING BRITISH AND GREEK ROYAL FAMILIES AND WINSTON CHURCHILL, WHO REPORTEDLY SAT ON THE KEPPEL'S TERRACE TO PAINT THE DUOMO. THE MIRROR DESCENDED WITHIN THE FAMILY UNTIL SOLD IN 1991.