A George III Giltwood Mirror
CIRCA 1765
Height: 88" Width: 44"
Inventory Number 7257-158
Price
$120,000
Description
The rectangular plate enclosed by stylized architectural elements issuing elaborate floral and foliate swags and supporting finely carved Ho-Ho- birds, flanking the pierced acanthus carved cresting; the apron with a conforming cartouche hung with foliate swags.
Condition
18th century upper mirror plate re-silvered; large lower plate 18th century, probably re-used.
Illustrated
-
Additional Information
Freed from the constraints of mahogany, mirrors were particularly well-suited to live out the wild fantasies of Rococo designers. Interconnecting broken C-scrolls and S-scrolls were mingled with rockwork and chinoiserie elements such as ho-ho birds, as seen here, and pagoda crestings. The ho-ho bird, pre-eminent in Eastern mythology for elegance and benevolence, was a variation of the Japanese phoenix and Chinese pheasant. It would neither injure living insects nor growing herbs, but lived in the highest regions of the air, and only descended to earth as the harbinger of good tidings.