A George III carved giltwood mirror, circa 1775

Acquired from Ronald Phillips Ltd., London.

Ronald Phillips Ltd., catalogue, London, 2005, p.162.

In contrast to the fluid Rococo design of several mirrors in this collection, this example displays all of the features of the aesthetic trend that came to displace it in the following decades: the Adam style. Not only is this new style generally more symmetrical and regular than the bustling Rococo style, it also has typically Neoclassical motifs that are observable on the present lot: an ‘anthemion’ (from the Greek word for flower) is used to decorate the joins between the marginal plates, and the mirror is surmounted by a classical urn with ram’s heads. While the style is generally associated with Robert Adam (1728-1792), the form and ornament of this particular mirror is close to several designs by John Linnell (1729-1796). The V&A holds a large collection of his drawings for mirrors, of which many are oval-shaped a border of trailing husks and an urn-form pediment: see, for example, the second mirror of E.3516-1911, the first mirror of E.3517-1911 and the fifth mirror of E.3492-1911, all from around 1774. Given the popularity of this form, a great number of comparable mirrors have appeared at auction: however, the combination of the ornament to the frame and a central mirror plate surrounded by marginal plates is rarer, and can bee seen on the mirror sold at Sotheby’s New York, 19 October 2001, lot 159, another at Sotheby’s New York, 16 October 2008, lot 207 and a pair on a more diminutive scale sold at Sotheby’s London, 5 July 1996, lot 88.