CIRCA 1720

The mirror, with its lovely original scroll-etched plate, may have been produced by the Royal glass-maker John Gumley (d. 1727), who provided pier-glasses with bevel-mirror frames for Hampton Court Palace around 1715 (R. Edwards and M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1955 figs. 16 and 17). A set of four similarly rare oval mirrors, whose etched scroll design is enriched with japanning, was commissioned by the 1st Duke of Newcastle (d.1721) for Clumber Park, Claremont or London (see R. W. Symonds, Masterpieces of English Furniture, 1940, fig. 41). These most recently sold in Simon Sainsbury; The Creation of An English Arcadia; Christie’s, London, 18 June 2008, lot 200 (£505,250). Two others of this form featured in distinguished 20th century collections: The Gerald Hochschild collection; Sotheby’s, London, 1 December 1978, lot 23; and the Estate of Marjorie Wiggin Prescott; Christie’s, New York, 31 January 1981, lot 195. The refined carved border on the present example distinguishes it from the others in the group, as does the absence of a candle arm, which it never had.