Very Fine George I Period Gesso Mirror Attributed to John Belchier, c.1720

Provenance

A private US collection

This beautiful pier mirror, retaining one of its original plates, is designed in the most up to date taste for the period around 1720 in England. This sophisticated piece combines cut gesso decoration which has been ornamented with foliate motifs with strapwork plumes to the cresting, a scallop shell and, most interestingly of all, a winged putto or cherub’s head mask to the top frieze. Although mask decoration on mirrors of this period is not uncommon, these masks are predominantly those of Apollo, his role as the sun god being particularly appropriate in the context of an 18th century home where mirrors were used to project light from candles in to a room. The use of a putto’s head, and a winged one at that, is much more unusual. Interestingly this design is frequently found on the finest English clocks of the late 17th and early 18th century used as spandrels surrounding the dial. Numerous clocks by Thomas Tompion feature this decorative device for example. The specific form of the cresting on this piece, with its combination of strapwork plumes and the mask underneath, relate closely to a series of mirrors known to have been supplied by the great London maker John Belchier to Erddig in Wales in the 1720s. These mirrors still survive in situ and are now displayed to the public by the National Trust. Perhaps the most famous and impressive of this series of mirrors is this one

https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1146961

It is also interesting to note that the scallop shell design is frequently featured on Belchier’s japanned cabinet furniture.

The Erddig mirrors aside, there are other comparable mirrors that are illustrated in the reference material on English furniture which are worthy of comment. A mirror once in the stock of the dealer R. P. Way of Bath is illustrated below. The cresting of the piece is very similar to our mirror but the Way piece is of much smaller scale.

The great dealers Mallett and Sons offered a comparable mirror to ours in an advert in Country Life on the 10th of February 1972. This piece also features a winged putto mask and strapwork plume cresting.

A very similar mirror to the Mallett example was illustrated by Herbert Schiffer in his The Mirror Book and is illustrated below.

This piece also features a scallop shell and was intended as a girandole, the candle arm fittings still being present.

Our piece is a fine example, likely from the workshops of this celebrated and important maker. Along with James Moore and John Gumley, Belchier was probably the most important maker of gesso furniture in this period and pieces by or firmly attributed to him are keenly sought-afer by collectors and decorators alike.