A PAIR OF GEORGE I PIER-GLASSES BY JOHN ODY, English, 1727
Width: 37 in; 94 cm
Further images
An exceptionally rare and highly important pair of early 18th century pier glasses by John Ody. The divided original bevelled centre plates with arched top in a moulded slip framed by original bevelled border glass sections with unusual lobed corners, within a moulded and gadrooned frame with later brass candle arms having exquisitely carved cresting of strapwork, acanthus leaf, shell motif and a central triple plume.
These mirrors where conceived in the French fashion, following designs by the Huguenot emergre Daniel Marot.
John Ody mentions two pier glasses for Stoke Edith in a letter to his patron Thomas Foley in 1727. Similar pier glasses by James Moore were supplied to Erdigg, Clwyd. A further example, possibly by James Moore, was illustrated in World of Mirrors by Graham Child.
Note: One border plate replaced.
Provenance
Commissioned by Thomas Foley (d.1737), for Stoke Edith, Herefordshire;
Thence by descent to the Lords Foley, Stoke Edith, Herefordshire;
The Moller Collection (formed under the guidance of R. W. Symonds);
Hotspur Ltd, London;
The Hon. Simon Sainsbury, Woolbeding, Sussex.
Literature
Ralph Edwards, Percy Macquoid, Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol II, London 1954, p 333, fig 54.
R. W. Symonds, Furniture making in the 17th and 18th century England, London 1955, p 150, fig 205.
F. Lewis Hinckley, Queen Anne and Georgian Looking glasses, New York 1987, p 71, ill 72.
Graham Child, World Mirrors 1650-1900, London 1990, P 77, ill 48.
Lanto Synge, Mallett Millennium, London 1999, p.168, ill 205.
Partridge Fine Art Ltd, The Chicheley Mirrors, Pamphlet 2008.
Illustrated:
Christie's, Review of the Year 1963-64, p 52, sold for 1,800 guineas.
