A pair of late George II carved giltwood wall mirrors circa 1759-60, the design attributed to Giovanni Battista Borra and possibly carved by Jean-Antoine Cuenot

the otter supporters probably added  in 1822 following Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville's elevation to 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos following his marriage to Anna Eliza Bridges, daughter and heir of the 3rd Duke of Chandos in 1796, see fig.1.

Supplied under Giovanni Battista Borra's direction to Richard Grenville, 2nd Earl Temple (1713-1784)  (see fig. 1.) for the State Bedchamber, Stowe House, Buckinghamshire.

Thence by descent at Stowe until sold, Jackson-Stops, 4-28 July 1921, lot 2758 (fourteenth day's sale), when in the Duchess'  Drawing Room (illustrated p.185) and described as;

'A PAIR OF HANDSOME SHIELD SHAPED WALL MIRRORS OF LOUIS XV PERIOD, with vase and foliage surmount, and two tigers, and two foliated side decorations, 9' high ; plate 31'' x 24'' ', (see figs. 3., 4. and 6.).

with Moss Harris, London.

In situ at 96 Cheyne Walk, London in the early 1970s when purchased by a forebear of the current owners.

Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art, The Treasure Houses of Britain, Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, 3 November 1985 - 16 March 1986, see fig. 5.

Laurence Whistler, 'Signor Borra at Stowe', Country Life, 29 August 1957, pp. 390-393.

Desmond Fitz-Gerald, 'A History of the Interior of Stowe', Apollo, June, 1973, pp. 572-585, figs. 8 & 10.

Gervase Jackson-Stops (Ed.), The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, Yale, 1985, pp. 336-7, no. 263.

Typical old breaks, chips, and minor losses to frames. Wear and chips to gilding. Typical degrading to original plates. Otherwise essentially in relatively good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This magnificent pair of pier mirrors originally from a set of four (the other pair are in a private British collection), formed part of the furnishings for the State Bedchamber at Stowe House (fig. 2.). They  were  commissioned by Richard Grenville, 2nd Earl Temple and supplied by Giovanni Battista Borra, the Earl's favoured architect in the late 1750s, and most probably executed by Jean-Antoine Cuenot, one of Borra's selected carvers. The commission also included the extraordinary State Bed now in The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight.

STOWE HOUSE

The association with the Temple family and Stowe started with a prosperous sheep farmer named Peter Temple, a native of Witney in Oxfordshire. In 1571 Peter Temple leased the land at Stowe. At that time there was an existing medieval house on the site, but that would soon become inadequate, for the Temples were socially ambitious. John Temple, Peter's son, purchased the land outright in 1589. John's son, Thomas purchased a baronetcy from King James I in 1611 and entered the family into the English aristocracy, but it was left to Sir Thomas's grandson, Richard Temple, 3rd Bt. to begin the building of what would become Stowe House in the late 1670s. William Cleare designed the new house for Sir Richard Temple in 1676. Work started in 1677 and was completed in 1683. The new house was located on slightly higher ground to the north west.

Richard Temple was succeeded by his son, also named Richard, 1675-1749 (later Viscount Cobham, 1719), and it was he who began the design of the landscape gardens for which Stowe is famous. He did not however neglect the house. He employed a series of renowned architects and landscape designers, commencing with Sir John Vanburgh and Charles Bridgeman from 1716 until Vanburgh's death in 1726 upon which he employed James Gibbs as the architect. Next was William Kent who to some extent also took control of the landscape and it was during the decade of the 1730s that some of the most remarkable features of the garden were created including the Temple of Venus and the Temple of British Worthies amongst others. The 1740s saw the introduction of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and the creation of the Grecian Valley. Brown who had begun at Stowe as head gardener in 1741 left Stowe at around the time of the death of Viscount Cobham in 1749. 

Viscount Cobham's nephew, Richard Temple, 2nd Viscount Cobham and later 1st Earl Cobham (1711-1779), inherited the estate and almost immediately continued work on the gardens and began the transformation of the House into the form it takes today. It was during the Earl's tenure that Borra was introduced to Stowe, working both on the gardens, the interior and drawing up plans for the exterior of the house. In the end it does not appear that the Earl settled completely on any of Borra's designs which reflected the vast colonnaded street in Palmyra as in 1771 he commissioned designs by Robert Adam. However a further architectural design, possibly by Borra, was discovered in the 1950s which may also have been the the inspiration for the final realisation of Stowe.

GIOVANNI BATTISTA BORA (1713-1770)

Giovanni Battista Borra trained under Bernardo Antonio Vittone between 1733 and 1736 and produced ten plates for Vittone's Istruzione elementari per indirizzo de'giovani allo studio dell'architettura civile of 1760 during his tenure. By 1750 he had met with Robert Wood in Rome and shortly thereafter accompanied Wood on his expedition to Greece, Asia Minor and Syria along with James Dawkins and John Bouverie, on a trip funded by The Society of Dilettante.  Wood, who had a local knowledge and who was sensitive to the classical surroundings along with Borra recorded the ruins of the cities of Palmyra and Baalbeck in a series of sketch books now retained in the Library of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, London. In turn Borra used these sketches to produce the original drawings (currently held in the Royal Institute of British Architects) for Wood's The Ruins of Balbec (1753) and The Ruins of Palmyra (1757).

Borra appears to have been working at Stowe from as early as July 1752 and by 1759 his work in The State Bedchamber is recorded on page 11 of  the Guide; 'The Bed and Ceiling' and  'A very curious chimney-Piece of White Marble' had been designed by 'Signor Borra'. Both the chimney-piece and the bed have clear influences of Borra's Piedmontese background as is apparent with the form of the current mirrors that indeed bear resemblance in terms of shape and proportion to mirrors formerly in the Royal Palace in Turin. To the exterior of Stowe, following his patron's exacting standards, he produced designs for the south front and altered the garden buildings of John Vanbrugh and James Gibbs to conform with Grenville's Neo-classical tastes.  Borra's other most significant commission in England at this time was the work he undertook for Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk in 1755 at Norfolk House in St James's Square, London. Norfolk House was demolished in 1938 but the Music Room which is an exceptional example of Borra's design and which was executed by Jean-Antoine Cuenot remains intact in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.

Upon his return to Italy  Borra's principal work was his remodelling and extension in 1756-8 of Guarino Guarini's Castello dei Racconigi, near Turin, which was commissioned by Prince Ludovico di Carignano. On the south facade and for the interior decoration of the Sala d'Ercole and Sala di Diana, on the piano nobile, Borra used antique decorative motifs from Baalbek and especially Palmyra, which were also becoming fashionable for ceiling decorations in England. He was also commissioned to work on Piedmontese palazzi, including most importantly the Palazzo Isnardi di Caraglio in Turin where we worked alongside Benedetto Innocente Alfieri.

JEAN-ANTOINE CUENOT

Born in the small French town of Morteau near Pontarlier in Franche Comté, near La Chaux de Fonds and the Swiss border Jean-Antoine Cuenot is first recorded in London in the St. James's rate books and as having workshops on Warwick Street, Golden Square between 1744 and 1762. His main trade was most probably that of a boiserie carver which explains his involvement with this magnificent pair of appliques. he had a close association with Giovanni Battista Borra and it was undoubtedly due to Borra's influence that Cuenot was chosen for one of his largest commissions, that for the Duke of Norfolk and his London mansion Norfolk House where Cuenot received the substantial sum of £2643 3s 8 1/2 d for his work there between 5 March 1753 and 24 February 1756. It was his work on the carvings of the Music Room at Norfolk House that most impressed. Fashioned in the taste of the Music Room at Versailles, it drew plaudits when first seem by London society, causing  William Farington to marvel in early 1756 at 'the extreme fine Carvings, the Arts and Sciences all Gilt' whilst in the following room, he noted 'Gerandoles, fixed in the Frames of the Pictures' and the carvings over the doors in the Great Drawing Room 'as soft as Gibbons could work in wood'. In addition to the architectural carvings Cuenot was also responsible for many of the mirror frames and pier tables that filled the spectacular enfillade of rooms, all executed to Borras designs which are discussed in further detail by Tessa Murdock, 'The Mysterious Mr Cuenot', Apollo, June 2006.