Pair of English George I Style Giltwood Mirrors

A monumental Irish George IV giltwood convex mirror. A very large and impressive George IV giltwood convex mirror, the original circular convex mirror...

A matched pair of George III mahogany night cabinets. The rectangular tray top, above a single cupboard door, resting on square legs, retaining original color and patina. Slight var...

A rare pair of George IV mahogany torcheres, the upper sections having superbly carved urns of acanthus and bunches of grapes hanging from the vine leaves, above a well figured panel...

A fine pair of George IV mahogany carver chairs. The carved shaped backs, above a reeded central splat, with stuff over seats, resting on turned ...

A Fine Pair of George II Mahogany Chair Back Settees With curved top rails above a tapering vertical splat, joined by carved tassels, the scr...

A fine pair of George IV Irish library armchairs, the well shaped backs with scroll shaped profile, acanthus carved arms, resting on turned fluted legs, with lotus leaf carving and b...

In the manner of Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) An exceptional pair of George III style giltwood mirrors, the mirror plate within ...

A beautiful pair all carved wood and gilded. True pair with the birds facing each other with a bird crest flanked by trailing leaves over an oval mirror plate with carved gadrooned o...

The shaped rectangular mirror plate within a carved and molded border, the voluted apron centered with a shell and scrolls on each side, the cresting with eagle heads flanking styliz...

A pair of George II style mirrors Constructed in carved giltwood, the waisted teardrop shaped mercury plates housed within asymmetrical conforming frames in the George II manner richly carved with scrolling foliates and flowering branchwork; adorned with a floral crest and a relief carved flower pendant...

A well-carved English George II giltwood oval-form mirror surmounted by a bold crest of a hoho bird surrounded by a lively foliate vine.

A Magnificent Pair of George II Style English Carved Giltwood ‘Rococo’ Wall Mirrors After A Design By Thomas Johnson. Of large proportions, each mirror having a cartouche-shaped plate within a profusely carved and pierced branch-entwined frame with stylised acanthus foliate rocaille and ‘C’-scroll decoration, architectural motifs and running dogs, surmounted by an asymmetrical pagoda form cresting with rockwork spires and a seated rustic couple holding a basket, flanked by confronted Ho-Ho birds, with a conforming asymmetrical apron of acanthus and waterwork icicles centred by a perching bird. This magnificent and ornate pair of English wall mirrors or ‘pier glasses’ are refined and reduced from a design by Thomas Johnson (1723–1799) first published in 1756 and included in his ‘Collections of Designs’ (1758), plate 4, and republished in his ‘One Hundred and Fifty New Designs" (1761) as plate 22. Pier Glasses were designed to be placed on the wall or 'pier' between windows; as well as forming part of a decorative scheme they provided an important functional use, creating a reversal of dynamic with the windows at night, reflecting and maximising the light given off by candles or oil lamps. Johnson’s asymmetrical design creates a sense of fluidity and lightness to the mirrors, employing ‘contraste’ in the placing or absence of elements, to create a stylised form, which through the dynamic tension of its constituent parts instils the mirrors with a sense of playfulness and vitality. In London throughout the 1740s and 1750s there developed a great enthusiasm for the whimsical Rococo style, and it rapidly became the height of fashion, popularised, and disseminated throughout the country and further afield by cabinetmakers’ 'Books of Prices', and 'Directories'. The second half of the 19th century saw a revival of the Rococo style in England and many designers and furniture makers turned once again to Chippendale’s ‘Director’ and designs by Matthias Lock and Thomas Johnson for inspiration, with fine examples based on modified designs or specific plates. Thomas Johnson’s designs, executed in a vigourous picturesque manner, are often inspired by the work of earlier French designers, transposing motifs taken from engraved ornament by Jean Bérain, Daniel Marot, William de la Cour, J. B. Toro and Francis Barlow...