A QUEEN ANNE BORDER PIER GLASS

A rare early 18th century pier glass retaining all of its original bevelled plates, the central arched upper plate above a large rectangular plate, with a mirrored and channelled outer border frame with an engraved shaped cresting, the outer border plates joined by decorated gilt lead fillets
Extravagant glass borders obviated the need for an elaborate frame, as this rare example illustrates. This type of bevelled glass was the most extravagant form of framing, and such a rich glass would have hung between windows on a pier wall and tilted into the room, as was the fashion. An unusual detail that underlines the quality of this glass is the double bevel of the border glass plates that would have glittered in the flickering candlelight, emphasising the frame's shape.
Note: One of the arch plates and one of the border plates cracked.

Literature: Geoffrey Wills, English Looking Glasses, London 1965, pp 71/72, ill 16-19.
Patrick Broome, The Hyde Park Collection 1965-1990, New York 1990, p.55.
Graham Child, World of Mirrors 1650-1900, London 1990, illus. 28; a pier glass of similar design
Ronald Phillips, Reflections of the Past, Mirrors 1685-1815, London 2004, p20, item 3, a similar pair.