A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD GIRANDOLES

These girandoles are conceived in the George II 'Modern' or 'pittoresque' fashion first popularized in the 1750s and 1760s, and disseminated through pattern books such as Thomas Chippendale's Director in 1754 (1st edition). The carved giltwood basket of flowers at the top of the girandoles is a motif often associated to William and John Linnell, as illustrated in a pair of pier glasses, circa 1755-60, made for Bramshill, Hampshire, and ordered by Sir Monoux Cope, 7th Baronet (d. 1795) (H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, p. 98, figs. 187-188).