OVAL GILT WOOD AND PAINTED MIRROR OF LARGE SCALE WITH CARVED BULRUSHES

A RARE OVAL GILT WOOD AND PAINTED MIRROR OF LARGE SCALE WITH CARVED BULRUSHES ALMOST CERTAINLY BY J.C. LILLIE (1760–1827)
Copenhagen. Circa 1790.
Measurements
Height 80" (203 cm); Width: 35 1/2" (90 cm).

Research
Of gilded and painted wood. The old but possibly replaced mirror plate surmounted by a foliate carved upper section centered by a double spiral motif topped by a bouquet of flowers. The white painted and gilded oval mirror frame with pearl string sight molding. The sides with carved and painted bullrush leaves and flowerheads. The lower section with gilded palmette and voluted decoration. Paintwork refreshed in places.

The present mirror is the work of the celebrated Danish cabinet maker and designer Joseph Christian Lillie (1760–1827), Denmark’s most prominent furniture designer during the late eighteenth century. The first incumbent of the official post of Architect and Designer to the Danish Court from 1790, Lillie numbered among his patrons royalty and members of the country’s leading aristocratic families. He enjoyed a long career at the heart of Danish fashionable society, and his most prestigious commissions included decorating the suite of Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Marie on the occasion of their marriage in 1790. The papers of the Lord High Steward, C.F. Numsen, record that his work was highly esteemed by the royal family, he himself writing in praising terms of Lillie’s “taste displayed in his drawings” and “in the craftsmanship of his furniture.”1

Full research report available on request.