ATTRIBUTED TO BY WILLIAM MATHIE, EDINBURGH, CIRCA 1760

This pair of exuberantly carved rococo pier glasses display many of the characteristics of the Scottish carver, William Mathie (fl. 1733-61). Mathie’s craftsmanship was directly influenced by Thomas Chippendale’s (d. 1779) patterns, published in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, 1755 and 1762. Thus, the form of the present mirrors is closely related to designs for pier glasses in the 1st and 2nd editions of the Director (plates CXLI, CLXII), while the flower-filled urns are undoubtedly inspired by those found on a design for an over-mantel, which are virtually identical, in the 3rd edition (plates CLXXXI and CLXVII). Mathie’s skill lay in the panache with which he executed his carved mirror frames often including sinuous and entwining foliate branches as found on this example. Such ebullient carving is likewise featured on a looking glass created by Mathie in 1759 for one of the principal bed chambers at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, for William Crichton-Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries (d. 1768), Mathie’s largest known commission; his principal role there was to provide a series of mirrors to complement those already supplied by Chippendale. The Dumfries example also has similar flower-filled urns. Another example by Mathie, based on a comparable Chippendale shape, features entwining branches too; this mirror was supplied in 1760-61 to Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of Wemyss (d. 1808), for Amisfield House, near Haddington, Scotland (sold Christie’s, London, 15 November 2017, lot 100).