CIRCA 1830, INCORPORATING CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE-PAINTED MIRROR PICTURES, SECOND HALF 18TH CENTURY

This beautiful overmantel mirror, carved with acanthus-capped pilasters, water-dripping foliate scrolls and surmounted by a pagoda, is conceived in the George II 'Chinese' fashion, with its emphasis on the beauty of natural forms, revived during the reign of his great-grandson William IV. Incorporating mid-18th century Chinese reverse-painted mirrors depicting figures on waterside pagodas to three of its plates (and possibly originally also to the central plate, which has been replaced), the overall effect is one of harmony and symmetry. In both the latter and in the slightly restrained nature of the carved motifs, it differs from similar overmantels produced in the full-blown asymmetric Rococo style of the 1750s and 1760s, which often displayed fantastical and over-proportioned representations of figures, animals, birds and foliage.

THE GILDING
The mirror has been decorated twice. The original scheme consisted of oil gilding overlaid with a thick coating of varnish, which was stripped off when the present water-gilt scheme was applied in the 20th century. The present gilding has been patched in some places with oil gilding.