A PAIR OF DANISH NEOCLASSICAL CARVED MAHOGHANY MIRRORS, ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEPH CHRISTIAN LILLIE LATE 18TH CENTURY

Grevenkop-Castenskiold family, Frederikslund Estate, Denmark

An imposing and beautifully carved pair of mirrors in excellent condition. Frames repolished, with the odd nicks, scuffs and abrasions commensurate with age. The old mirror plates with some foxing. Ready to be placed.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The somber overall form elaborated by finely-carved elongated acanthi, scrolls and leaves exhibit Neoclassicism at its most elegant. The design of these mirrors is related to the work of Joseph Christian Lillie (1760-1827). A designer-turned-architect, Lillie was greatly influenced by the French goût étrusque and even more so by the great English design-triumvirate of Robert Adam, Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite. English Neoclassicism was extremely popular in Denmark in the 1780s and 1790s and many cabinetmakers studied and trained in England. A student of architecture, Lillie himself never studied furniture making in England but his designs were clearly impacted by Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book and Adam’s Works in Architecture, see Mirjam Gelfer-Jørgensen, The Dream of a Golden Age: Danish Neo-Classical Furniture 1790-1850, s.n., 2004, p. 79. Although initially not recognized by the cabinetmakers’ guild, upon his father’s death in 1779 Lille became head of the family workshop. He eventually succeeded Georg Roentgen as director of the Det kongelige Møbelmagasin and played an important role in the dissemination of the English aesthetic in Denmark. At the height of his career as a designer, in 1790 Lillie was commissioned to conceive plans for the interiors of the Crown Prince and Regent Frederick’s apartments at Christianborg and Frederiksberg palaces. For comparable oval mirrors with similar scroll and anthemion carving and urn finial attributed to Lillie with certainty, see Tove Clemmensen, Møbler af N. H. Jardin, C. F. Harsdorff og J. C. Lillie og eksempler på deres interiørdekorationer: Et bidrag til nyclassicismens historie i Danmark fra 1750 til 1800, Copenhagen, 1973, pls. 121a, 121b, 124 and 125.