A Pair of George I Carved Giltwood Mirrors
Height: 4ft 3" 129.5cm
Width: 2ft 6" 77.5cm
The rectangular mirrors having scrolls to each side, a shaped apron with foliage and scrolls carved in relief below and a swan-neck crest with scrolls and foliage mirroring the design of the apron and surmounted by a central cartouche above.
English, Circa 1720
Viscount Ullswater, Campsea Ashe High House, Campsea Ashe, Suffolk. Presumably sold, Garrod, Turner and Son, Ipswich, The Contents of High House 24-31 October 1949
Sir James & Lady Horlick, Achamore House, The Isle of Gigha, Scotland.
LGG Ramsay, 'Chinoiserie in the Western Isles, The Collection of Sir James and Lady Horlick', The Connoisseur, June1985, p3, fig 3.
The decoration to the crestings of these mirrors, in particularly the flowering tendrils, relate to a pair of mirrors sold Sotheby's New York, 22 January, 1999, Lot 212, that were attributed to James Moore (c 1670-1726).
James Moore was recorded as a cabinet maker at Nottingham Court, Short's Gardens, St Giles in the Field. He was in partnership with John Gumley and was Royal cabinet-maker to George I and George II, supplying gilt pier glasses, tables, torcheres and other items to the Royal palaces. He was also commissioned by Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough for the supply of items at Blenheim where he succeeded Vanbrugh as the Comptroller of Works.
Campsea Ashe High House was rebuilt in the 19th Century by Anthony Salvin for the Hon William Lowther, younger brother of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale. The house was designed to retain many of the original Georgian features. Lowther's son, James William, was speaker of the House of Commons from 1905 until 1921 at which point he became Viscount Ullswater. Upon his retirement he relocated to the house in Suffolk, which he had seldom used previously and with his wife undertook to maintain the intriguing gardens. Viscount Ullswater died in 1949 at which point a sale of the contents was undertaken by his estate and High House was passed into a trust where it remained until demolished in 1953.
 "Campsea Ashe")
