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Lot Essay
These carton-pierre mirrors correspond closely to a drawing of a pier mirror for Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, attributed to the Rome-trained architect-designer, James Wyatt (d.1813) (Victoria & Albert Museum, Furniture Department). Heveningham Hall was remodelled between 1778 and 1784 by the architect Sir Robert Taylor for Sir Gerard Vanneck, a wealthy Huguenot banker and MP. In the early 1780s Vanneck engaged Wyatt to design the elegant interiors, which are among his finest work. Wyatt was particularly keen on the use of novel materials, and carton pierre modelling is found on decorative wall panels at Hevingham Hall.
Wyatt enjoyed a close working relationship with Messrs. Gillow of Lancaster and London, the latter executing some of the Heveningham Hall furniture to Wyatt’s designs, and Gillows themselves had supplied mirrors in papier mâché frames as early as 1766, manufactured by the London-based Peter Babel. Another pier glass with a similar urn finial but of rectangular form was designed by Wyatt for William Drake (J.M. Robinson, James Wyatt, 1746-1813: Architect to George III, New Haven and London, 2012, p.42, fig.39).
Probably the most innovative architect-designer of his day, and successor (and rival) to Robert Adam (d.1792), Wyatt’s designs were much imitated by his contemporaries. Among the specialist papier mâché frame makers working in this period was the Berwick Street carver and gilder William Duffour (d.1784), who may have executed a related vase-decked pier-glass, acquired in 1926 by the Victoria & Albert Museum (M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, N/14).
The urn finial flanked by ram’s heads of the present mirrors derives from antiquity, evoked by an engraving of La Vertueuse Athénienne by P. Filipart, published in 1765, after a painting by Joseph Vien of 1763. This motif was a common theme in the neo-classical designs of architect-designers such as William Chambers, Adam and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, and it was also employed by the cabinet-maker John Linnell; closely related designs of pier glasses with urn finials, dated 1774, are illustrated H. Hayward, ‘The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum’, Furniture History, vol. 5, 1969, figs. 92, 95. Other related mirrors with similar finials include a green and white-painted carton pierre mirror, sold Christie’s, London, 20 November 2008, lot 57 (£13,750 including premium), a giltwood mirror sold Christie’s, New York, 15 April 2005, lot 99 ($15,600 including premium) and a pair of giltwood mirrors sold Christie’s, New York, 22 December 1998, lot 431 ($25,300 including premium).
See also Lot 644, a George III carton pierre overmantel.
Wyatt enjoyed a close working relationship with Messrs. Gillow of Lancaster and London, the latter executing some of the Heveningham Hall furniture to Wyatt’s designs, and Gillows themselves had supplied mirrors in papier mâché frames as early as 1766, manufactured by the London-based Peter Babel. Another pier glass with a similar urn finial but of rectangular form was designed by Wyatt for William Drake (J.M. Robinson, James Wyatt, 1746-1813: Architect to George III, New Haven and London, 2012, p.42, fig.39).
Probably the most innovative architect-designer of his day, and successor (and rival) to Robert Adam (d.1792), Wyatt’s designs were much imitated by his contemporaries. Among the specialist papier mâché frame makers working in this period was the Berwick Street carver and gilder William Duffour (d.1784), who may have executed a related vase-decked pier-glass, acquired in 1926 by the Victoria & Albert Museum (M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, London, 1982, N/14).
The urn finial flanked by ram’s heads of the present mirrors derives from antiquity, evoked by an engraving of La Vertueuse Athénienne by P. Filipart, published in 1765, after a painting by Joseph Vien of 1763. This motif was a common theme in the neo-classical designs of architect-designers such as William Chambers, Adam and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart, and it was also employed by the cabinet-maker John Linnell; closely related designs of pier glasses with urn finials, dated 1774, are illustrated H. Hayward, ‘The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum’, Furniture History, vol. 5, 1969, figs. 92, 95. Other related mirrors with similar finials include a green and white-painted carton pierre mirror, sold Christie’s, London, 20 November 2008, lot 57 (£13,750 including premium), a giltwood mirror sold Christie’s, New York, 15 April 2005, lot 99 ($15,600 including premium) and a pair of giltwood mirrors sold Christie’s, New York, 22 December 1998, lot 431 ($25,300 including premium).
See also Lot 644, a George III carton pierre overmantel.