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Lot Essay
The maker of this mirror was greatly inspired by the tradition of silver furniture making of the late 1600s and early 1700s. The commissioning of silver furniture in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe was almost entirely limited to the royal and wealthiest aristocratic families. Tables, chairs, pier-mirrors and gueridons constitute some of the rarest objects made in silver. Almost all the extant examples remain in permanent collections such as that of the Danish royal family. Most recently, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition entitled Making Marvels: Science & Splendor at the Courts of Europe, featured a number of seventeenth-century silver furnishings from the Esterházy Collection. A great number of such silver furnishings were made in the German states, where Augsburg was considered the center of the craft. In addition to the overall concept and certain specific design elements, with its chased plaques pinned to a wood core, the present lot follows seventeenth-century Augsburg examples in its construction as well. Substituting solid silver elements with thinner silver plaques often saved these pieces from being melted down as it was the case with Versailles’ famous silver furnishing.
Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained largely intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977. The collection at Mentmore had an important and extensive silver component with objects similar to the lot offered here, such as a silver Augsburg necessaire with comparable design elements dated circa 1710 and with the marks of Tobias Bauer, sold The Late the 6th Earl of Rosebery and his family; Mentmore, Sotheby's House sale, 23 May 1977, lot 664.
Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained largely intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977. The collection at Mentmore had an important and extensive silver component with objects similar to the lot offered here, such as a silver Augsburg necessaire with comparable design elements dated circa 1710 and with the marks of Tobias Bauer, sold The Late the 6th Earl of Rosebery and his family; Mentmore, Sotheby's House sale, 23 May 1977, lot 664.