Pair of George III Style Giltwood Mirrors

With original gilding in cleaned restored retail condition. Arched open crest with scroll and flower decoration over a mirror plate set in a conforming frame with open carved ear...

In the style of Robert Adam. Urn form finial with leaf tip swags and scrolls over an oval beveled mirror and a pair of candle arms flanked by leaves and seed pods terminating on urns...

A pair of carved giltwood George III mirrors of Adam design with leaf carved outer frame and bead carved inner frame, the surrounding border glasses are punctuated by oval flower-hea...

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...