The mirror plates were no doubt re-used from a pair of early 18th Century pier glasses, reflecting the high valued of the plates themselves in the 18th Century. Their 1760 frames are flowered and serpentined in the French 'picturesque' manner popularised by Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754-1762. Celebrating the triumph of the nature goddess, the fret-ribboned frames unite water-scallops with Roman acanthus and display Venus's shell badge flanked by reeds and bull-maces, sacred to the Arcadian deity Pan. The frames, while harmonising with furnishings introduced into the main rooms under the direction of John Vardy, are also conceived in a lighter manner appropriate to the bedroom apartments.
The mirror that has the original plate has the same coarse paper backing as the mirror that is lot 42 in this sale, suggesting that they came from the same workshop.