A GEORGE II GILTWOOD MIRROR

This elegant George II mirror demonstrates the increasingly rococo influence adopted in the late 1730s in England. The rococo scroll embellishments combine with the baroque treatment of the acanthus scrolls and bunches of rushes. The plumed mask of Diana together with the rushes carved to the frame correlates closely to a mirror bearing the cypher and coronet of the first Duke of Richmond, one of a group of three similar mirrors at Goodwood House, Sussex (see R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p.365, fig. 45). Another mirror of more comparable proportions and of very similar design is illustrated in G. Wills, English Looking-Glasses, London, 1965, p.85, fig.56. A further related example is illustrated in G.Beard and J.Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, London, 1987, p.107, fig.3.

The masks on this group of mirrors are executed in the manner of Benjamin Goodison who succeeded James Moore as the Royal Cabinet-Maker in 1727).