A GEORGE II GILTWOOD MIRROR

With the fanciful pagoda cresting and flanking ho-ho birds, this mirrors illustrate the full flowering of Chinese design presented in a decidedly French ‘picturesque’ or rococo framework. The blend of these two design sources was popularised by Thomas Chippendale in his The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director (1754-1762) and led to today’s moniker 'Chinese Chippendale.’ This style was also adopted by other top cabinet-makers and designers including Thomas Johnson, Mayhew and Ince and Matthias Lock, who likely supplied designs for Chippendale’s publication (J. Simon, ‘Thomas Johnson’s “The Life of the Author,” Furniture History, 2003, p. 3). Lock’s 1760 drawing depicting a similar mirror and pier table is reproduced in P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1958, pl. 67. Even Sir William Chambers, architect to King George II, produced the 'extravagant fancies that daily appear under the name of 'Chinese’ at the behest of his clients (D. Jacobson, Chinoiserie, London, 1993, p. 126).
Mirrors of similar inspiration include the iconic pair from Crichel House, Dorset illustrated in G. Wills, English Looking Glasses, London, 1965, p. 103, fig. 96. A closely related mirror from the late Honorable Daisy Fellowes, Donnington Park, Berkshire was sold at Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury, 5 July 2017, lot 123 (£78,000) and was also illustrated op. cit., p. 96, fig. 85.