A GEORGE II CARVED GILTWOOD MIRROR, CIRCA 1758, AFTER A DESIGN BY THOMAS JOHNSON

Acquired from Ronald Phillips Ltd., 2007.

The present mirror, conceived in the late George II ‘Rococo’ taste, bears remarkable similarity to a design by Thomas Johnson (1714-1778) first published in 1756 and included in his Collections of Designs, 1758, plate 8. The publication was dedicated to Lord Blakeney, 'Grand President of the Anti-Gallican Association and to the Brethren of the Order' of which Johnson was himself a member. While the Association was founded 'to oppose the insidious arts of the French Nation', it is ironic that Johnson clearly transposes elements from French patterns. Johnson was also a highly skilled carver and gilder, and is known to have supplied mirrors in the early 1760s through the London upholsterer George Cole of Golden Square, Soho, to Paul Methuen at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, and the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle in the Scottish Highlands.