The drawing of the mirror in the Bernal sale catalogue
The pair of mirrors listed separately as lots 4143 and 4144
The Bernal collection sale catalogue, Christie’s, 5 March 1855
THE BERNAL GIRANDOLE MIRROR, English, circa 1765
Width: 3 ft 6 in; 107 cm
Depth: 1 ft 2 in; 35.5 cm
Further images
A George III giltwood segmental girandole mirror attributed to Thomas Chippendale.
Note: The mirror plates and candle arms are replacements. The frame was re-gilded at some stage in the 20th century. The companion girandole mirror is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
At the time of the Bernal sale in London in 1855, museum collections were still in their infancy. However, Ralph Bernal was praised for putting together a collection of exquisite taste and of the highest quality, and perhaps for this reason the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, was the single largest buyer in the sale. The museum purchased more than two hundred lots, including two large girandole mirrors. Two pairs of mirrors were in the sale, but oddly the pairs were split up and each mirror was listed as a separate single lot. The museum bought one of each pair and the well-known Bond Street dealers Arnott & Gale bought the two companions.
The sale catalogue states that both pairs are by Chippendale, but gives no more information. It is very likely, however, that both pairs originated from the same house, and they are certainly from the same workshop.
The Victoria and Albert companion mirror appears to have retained more of the original surface, especially at the back of the frame, where remnants of green paint can clearly be seen. The fact that the veining of the leaves and finer carved detail is carved in the wood rather than into the gesso also suggests that the frame was originally painted and possibly parcel gilded.
The girandole mirrors supplied by Chippendale to the Duke of Portland were only gilded, but of the fourteen large girandole mirrors supplied to Sir Rowland Wynn for Nostell Priory in Yorkshire and for his house in London, five were delivered ‘finished green and gold’, while the others were entirely gilded. Some of Sir Rowland Wynn’s girandole mirrors were later dispersed in a sale of contents from the London residence, and it is possible that Ralph Bernal acquired his girandole mirrors at this point.
Provenance
Ralph Bernal, 93 Eaton Square, London, England, until 1855;
Arnott & Gale of Bond Street, London, England;
Mallett & Son Ltd., London, England;
Alfred Cook Antiques, London, England, prior to 1965;
M. Harris & Sons, London, England, until June 1967;
Private collection, England, until December 2013;
Private collection, USA.
Literature
Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, vol. I, pp. 166-94.
Adam Bowett and James Lomax, ‘Thomas Chippendale 1718-1779: A Celebration of British Craftsmanship and Design’, tercentenary exhibition catalogue, 2018, pp. 34-7.
Illustrated:
Christie’s, ‘Catalogue of the celebrated collection of works of art from the Byzantine period to that of Louis Seize of that distinguished collector Ralph Bernal Esq., deceased’, sale catalogue, London, 5 March 1855, facing p. 341.
Oliver Brackett, Thomas Chippendale, 1924, p. 239, pl. XLIII; the companion mirror.
Country Life, 20 December 1962, p. 1584; advertisement with Mallett & Son Ltd.
Geoffrey Wills, English Looking-glasses: A Study of the Glass, Frames and Makers (1670-1820), 1965, p. 100, fig. 91.
