A PAIR OF GEORGE III GILTWOOD MIRRORS

These well documented mirrors retain the original mirror plates. The pagoda tops and the pendent aprons have been restored.
The earliest record of these mirrors is in a photograph taken circa 1924 by Sydney Newbery of Brixton, London, a highly regarded art photographer whose work is today in several museums in the UK. All the other items in the photograph are Hotspur Ltd. stock items, and it is safe to assume that it was taken for Hotspur. An inscription on the back lists everything shown, including the wall panelling, which appears to have been installed temporarily, suggesting that the photograph may have been taken at an exhibition, possibly the monumental British Empire Exhibition of 1924, in which several London antique dealers took part.

Literature: Illustrated:
Geoffrey Wills, English Looking-glasses: A Study of the Glass, Frames and Makers (1670-1820), 1965, p. 92, fig. 74.
‘Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair handbook’, 1992, p. 273, advertisement; with Ronald Phillips Ltd.

Provenance

Hotspur Ltd., London, England, circa 1924.
M. Harris & Sons, London, England, 1965.
Ronald Phillips Ltd. London, England, 1992.
Private collection, New York, USA.