A GEORGE III GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR

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, which included depictions of animals in designs for mirrors and pier tables, clearly displaying the influence of the English Rococo. 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, and most notably the rams to the apron, which combined together display Johnson’s fondness for the beauty of nature.
This pier mirror was originally one of a pair that was almost certainly supplied to the Ker family of Portavo, Co. Down. The pair to this mirror with opposing carved foliage crest was sold anonymously at Sotheby’s in New York, 26 October 2012, lot 294.