An early George III carved giltwood oval mirror, circa 1765

Elaborate carving was on exuberant display in the mirrors of the mid-18^th century, where various motifs from the Rococo repertoire would fluidly combine and merge in dense, impressive frames. While the designs of Thomas Johnson, the most Rococo of English mirror designers, are markedly asymmetrical, the balance of composition in this mirror brings them closer to the designs of Thomas Chippendale, who includes two designs for ‘Oval Glass Frames’ and two for oval-shaped ‘Glass Frames’, on pl.CLVIII and CLXXII of his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director.¹ The implied symmetry of these Chippendale designs is indicated by his common practice of showing two differing halves for a separate mirror on each design, saving space and illustrating the nuance and adaptability of his designs. Ho-ho birds, derived from the Japanese mythological version of a phoenix, also feature on the mirror design on the left of plate CLXXII in the Director: these birds are a common feature on Rococo mirrors of various shapes and sizes, and the two on this example are carved with a particular expressiveness. While most decorative elements of this mirror are observable across many examples of contemporary mirror frames, an example sold at Sotheby’s New York, 24 April 2008, lot 38 brings them together in a similar fashion to the present lot.

¹ Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, New York, 1966 reprint, pl.CLVIII and CLXXII.