George III Chinoiserie Mirror in the Manner of Thomas Johnson

An George III oval Chippendale mirror, circa 1770. Carved in pine, the mirror is decorated with rococo C-scrolls and trailing foliage and flowers. The frame has been re-gilded but retains an old process silvered mirror plate. Affixed to the backboard is a label for the ‘Grosvenor House...

A handsome flame mahogany collector’s cabinet, circa 1800, the moulded rectangular top above a pair of oval and shaped panelled cupboard doors, the inset veneers being within raised ...

Englishcirca 1770 - 1780 Fine George III 18th century period carved giltwood oval mirror attributed to John Linnell. The carved and well-drawn oval medallion mirror with pearled and reed-gadrooned borders and a beaded slip, is below a surmounted carved urn with protruding wheat sheaf. The crisply carved swaggered urn has a fluted border centralised bow and flanked by ram-masks, issuing husk trails. The urn is supported on an 'Ionic' scrolled and fluted capital pedestal adorned with a shell and a beaded base. The trailing husks that flank the mirror are complemented with a vase-capped medallion apron with a pearled framed border and six carved flowered paterae. A vase-capped medallion frame with a pearled border framed by six flowered patterae features on a design by John Linnell, dated 1774 (H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 196). A mirror with an identical carved apron was supplied to Sir Penistone Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne (1748-1819) for Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, or Melbourne House, Piccadilly, London. Possibly by descent to Admiral of the Fleet Lord Walter Kerr, G. C. B., Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, sold Mssrs. Foster house sale, 9 March 1923, lot 944, 'An oval mirror, in carved and gilt frame, 26 in. wide'. Possibly acquired at that sale by Sir Charles Nall-Cain, Bt., 1st Lord Brocket (d. 1934) and by descent. A closely related but pair of mirrors, with additional husk festoons draped from the rams' mouths and eight rather than six paterae, was exhibited by Edward Nield at the Antique Dealer...

A magnificent 19th Century oval mirror of large scale with giltwood border inset with clear and blue glass cabochons - the cut glass decoration in the style of the renowned Waterford...

An elegant and refined George III giltwood and carton-pierre oval pier glass, late 18th Century, with egg and dart border below a husk-swagged urn cresting, a...

A fine mid-18th-century rich mahogany George III card table raised on cabriole legs with ball and claw feet, scallop shells carved in high relief on all four legs with swags, support...

A George III Giltwood Pier Mirror In the Manner of Thomas Johnson An exceptionally detailed design; the superb carved decoration housing a shaped rectangular plate and undulating mirrored borders; the inner frame closely tied to the outer frame and leading the eye around the mirror. The grandiose masterful carving incorporating C-scrolls, flowering branchwork, stylized icicles, acanthus leaves, and distinctive architectural follies and figures which firmly place this mirror within the canon of Johnson's greatest designs. The confident execution is a great testament to the technical prowess and artistic creativity of one of the greatest carvers and designers of the eighteenth century, circa 1760. Provenance Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, Farmleigh, Co. Dublin, (1880?-1927); The Earls of Iveagh, Farmleigh, Co. Dublin & Elveden Hall, Suffolk (1927-2018). Thomas Johnson (1723-1799) Thomas Johnson was one of the most skilled carvers and furniture designers in Georgian England. Drawing inspiration from the Fables of Aesop, the rococo, China, and the idealised rustic life, his work is whimsical, exuberant and witty. Chippendale borrowed freely from his work. Johnson was a founder member of the 'Antigallican Society', a group who excoriated the French taste. In addition to its relation to Johnson's designs, this mirror also reflects the influence of Lock, the great master with whom he worked for a period. Lock published many sketches and pattern books, including A New Book of Ornaments for Looking Glasses in 1752, introducing several idiosyncratic features which Johnson would adopt such as the small decorative urns...

A fine naturalistically carved oval mirror with bird, branch and stylized animal decoration in the manner of Thomas Johnson. An exceptionally fine mirror carved in period old pine wi...

With an elaborately caved gold leaf framed with free scrolling lappet branches in the rococo style, the base with inverted cabriole legs and a central shell and leaf cartouche, the p...

An oval carved giltwood looking glass mirror in the manner of George III. The moulded frame is carved with leaves carefully worked with C-scrolls both in front and behind the leaves....

A George III style carved giltwood mirror After a design by Thomas Johnson Of grandiose proportions, the central oval glass plate built up in a concentric arrangement of mercury ...

A carved and giltwood looking rectangular glass mirror that combines the genius of Thomas Chippendale together with that of Thomas Johnson. In...