A George I Gilt-Gesso Wall Mirror, Circa 1720

Mallett, London;

From whom acquired by Aso O. Tavitian, 12 August 2004.

This impressive pier-glass with a mask beneath a plume closely relates to an example supplied by the London cabinet-maker John Belchier (d.1753), to John Meller in 1726 for one of the best bedchambers at Erddig Park, Denbighshire, Wales (now in the Saloon) at a cost of  £50 (see R. Edwards and M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, rev. ed., London 1946, p. 99, fig. 33 and erroneously attributed to Moore and Gumley).  The cresting of another mirror sharing similar distinctive elements including voluted scrolls and a putto mask formerly in the collection of Gerald Hochschild and subsequently with Mallett & Son, sold Sotheby's New York, 11 October 1996, lot 369 (see L. Synge, Mallett's Great English Furniture, London 1991, p.89). Similar characteristics are also repeated on a further example illustrated in G. Child, World Mirrors 1650-1900, London 1990, p.78, fig.51.