A Pair of George III Gilt Carton-Pierre Oval Mirrors
Height: 61" 156cm
Width: 35" 89cm
Each with an oval plate in a gadrooned frame with the most lightly drawn and flowing pierced foliage surmounted by an open rockwork cartouche and basket of flowers.
English, Circa 1765
PROVENANCE
Supplied to Field Marshall Sir George Howard, Stoke Place, after 1764, and by descent at Stoke Place to The Howard-Vyse family, Stoke Place, Buckinghamshire, until 1963, after which they continued by descent to the former owner.
The mirrors are likely to have formed part of the aggrandisement of Stoke Place, Buckinghamshire carried out by Field Marshall Sir George Howard following his purchase of the mansion in 1764 with the assistance of the fashionable architect Stiff Leadbetter (d. 1766).
ATTRIBUTION
These 'picturesque' Roman-medallion pier-glasses with their airy golden frames are superbly drawn. 'Pan' reed-gadrooned frames are wreathed by water-dripping and reed-scrolled pilasters, whose rustic arched pediments are crowned with flower-baskets evoking Arcadian festivities. A related 'Oval Glass Frame' pattern, with reed-gadrooned border, and another crowned by a basket, were published in W. Ince and J. Mayhew's Universal System of Household Furniture, 1762 (pls. 78 and 79)
Their pattern also relates to those previously issued by Thomas Johnson, whose Collection of Designs, 1758 was dedicated to the Grand President of the Anti Gallican Society. The latter had been founded in 1745 to 'oppose the insidious arts of the French Nation'.
 "A Single George III Gilt Carton-Pierre Oval Mirror")