CIRCA 1760, IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS JOHNSON

This mirror was formerly at Williamstrip Park, Gloucestershire the seat of the Hicks Beach family, later Earls St. Aldwyn from the late eighteenth century to the early twenty-first century.

This superbly proportioned pier glass is designed in the picturesque rococo taste that became highly fashionable during the mid-18th century in England as well as the rest of Europe. The naturalistic style bore huge influence on contemporary furniture production and a number of furniture-makers and carvers of the period including Matthias Lock (d. 1765), Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779), Thomas Johnson (d. 1779) and John Linnell (d. 1796) adopted this style.

This mirror is particularly closely related to the work of the Grafton Street carver Thomas Johnson (1714-c. 1779). Johnson, who traded from various addresses in Soho, published his designs in the late 1750s. The particularly delicate carving of this mirror takes elements from the first plate from his ‘Collections of Designs' (1758) including the scrolled sides with floral trails and rusticated pilasters which combined together display Johnson’s fondness for the beauty of nature. A comparable single-plate mirror, with typical Johnson addition of a ram to the pierced apron was sold from the Collection of Mr and Mrs David Ker, Christie's, South Kensington, 5 November 2015, lot 150 (£31,250, including premium).