A Highly Important George III Carved Giltwood Pier Mirror
Height: 7ft 10" 239cm
Width: 3ft 8" 112cm
The pagoda-form arched cresting above split and marginal mirror plates within rocaille rockwork and foliate-form boarders, cluster-columns with gothic arches and ho-ho birds with a shaped and pierced apron. This superb mirror formed part of the collection to the New York born, Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (19 May 1879 - 30 September 1952) and his wife, Nancy Astor, also of American descent, who inherited the family estate at Cliveden, in Buckinghamshire, as an extravagant wedding gift from his father.
The house, which was purchased by William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, from Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster in 1893, underwent significant restoration and re-decoration under the direction of Nancy Astor, and was acclaimed and revered for the couple's fine and exquisite entertaining, known as 'the Golden Period', amongst the wealthy elite. The couple held a strong interest in British Politics that dominated most of their life. Nancy Astor, with the influence of her husband, became the first female in parliament when she managed to secure a vacant House of Commons seat, which she took up on 1st December 1919 as a Unionist member.
The connection between Cliveden, Politics and entertainment continued to grow. Winston Churchill was a guest during the earlier days of entertaining and later during the 1960's the house was the scene of the infamous 'Profumo Affair', where John Profumo, the Secretary of State for war met the showgirl, Christine Keeler at a party hosted by Lord Astor in July 1961. It was this scandalous affair coupled with her liaison with a soviet naval attaché that outraged parliament and in 1963 as the Cold War began to challenge Britain's political system, it caused his resignation from office.
English, Circa 1760
PROVENANCE
Lord Astor, Cliveden
A number of design details are to be found in drawings by Ince and Mayhew in their book, 'Universal System of Household Furniture'. Most notably, Plate LXXXV and LXXXVI
 "A Highly Important George III Carved Giltwood Pier Mirror")