CIRCA 1760, IN THE MANNER OF JOHN VARDY

The oval form and exuberant carved palm foliage of this pier glass is in the emerging Rococo and theatrical style of the Palladian architect, John Vardy (d.1765), celebrated for a magnificent suite of seat-furniture supplied to John Spencer, later 1st Earl Spencer (d.1783), for the celebrated Palm Room at Spencer House, London; a pair of window seats from this suite sold ‘The Spencer House Sale’, Christie’s, London, 8 July 2010, lot 1020. It also compares to a girandole mirror acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, from The Bernal Collection in 1855; this was originally supplied by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) to William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (d. 1809).
By repute this mirror is included in an inventory for Powerscourt, co. Wicklow, dated 1860, whereabouts unknown. In A Description and History of Powerscourt by Viscount Powerscourt (1903), there is an intriguing reference to ‘an oval mirror, with fine carved frame, bought from Annoot in Bond Street, London, by me’ that was over the mantelpiece in Lady Powerscourt’s Sitting Room, and is possibly this mirror (ibid., p. 59).