A PAIR OF ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRRORS

IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS JOHNSON

细节

A PAIR OF ENGLISH GILTWOOD MIRRORS
IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS JOHNSON
Each central oval plate within a moulded acanthus and rockwork carved frame flanked by climbing branches issuing from a rocky platform, below a waisted plate within a conforming frame and surmounted by a plume issuing from a scallop shell, the apron plate covered with flowers beneath a dripping rockwork shelf and tapering conforming boss, the plates replaced, re-gilt and with traces of several old layers of decoration to the reverse, minor differences in carving and size
52¼ x 24¾ in. (132.5 x 63 cm.) (2)

来源

Probably the pair sold at Phillips, London in the 1970s (see catalogue note).

荣誉呈献

Alexandra Cruden

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拍品专文

The overall shape and naturalistic ornament of this pair of mirrors are closely related to a mirror of larger proportions (approx. 6 ft. high) and surmounted by birds, which is in the Victoria & Albert Museum (G. Wills, English Looking Glasses, London, 1965, p. 100, fig. 91). An identical mirror was previously in the Tom Devenish Collection and later sold at Sotheby's New York, 23 May 2012, lot 408 ($28,125); and an identical pair was noted in that latter catalogue, possibly these mirrors, as having been sold at Phillips, London in the 1970s.

THE GILDING
An analysis of the gilding on this pair of mirrors revealed that the front of the each mirror has been stripped and the present water-gilt scheme is recent. The backs, however, were not stripped and show that the mirrors have been decorated several times, with layers of yellow paint and gesso separated by thick coats of dirt, representing a number of different phases of re-decoration.