A pair of18th century Chinese mirror and reverse paintings on glass in contemporary Chinese carved giltwood frames circa 1770

Colonel Robert Adeane, Babraham Hall, Cambridge

James A Lewis & Sons Inc, New York

The Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Samuels, New York, proposed sale Sotheby’s, New York, October 2 & 3, 1981, lot 398, as a set of six

Madame Imelda Marcos

Christie’s, New York, anonymous sale, January 24, 1997, lot 355

This pair of Chinese reverse paintings on glass was formerly in the notable collection of European furniture and works of art formed by the late Mr. and Mrs. Leslie R. Samuels of New York in the 1950s. Originally from a set of six, the other subjects included portraits of Lady George Lenox after Ramsey, Mrs. Jones after C. Read and another unidentified, together with a depiction of a young lady representing peace after an engraving by Houston. The present lot includes a portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds of Nelly O’Brien together with a depiction of Peace, similarly taken from a print engraved by Richard Houston possibly after Philip Mercier and published by Robert Sayer, c.1760 (see: Clayton, op. cit., p. 146, fig. 159). The portrait of Nelly O’Brien, a well known courtesan, actress and favorite model of Reynolds, was painted in 1762 and is now in the Wallace Collection, London. As with Peace, the present picture would have been copied from an English print by the Chinese artist. Each retains its original giltwood frame carved in the European taste, similar frames being recorded on other Chinese mirror and reverse paintings of the late 18^th century. (See: Christie’s, op. cit.). 

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

Christie’s, New York, sale, The Estate of Kathryn Bache Miller, April 17, 18, 19, 1980, lot 1193, a pair of mirror paintings

Timothy Clayton, The English Print 1688-1802, 1997