One of the mirrors in situ in the Duchess of Gloucester’s sitting room, Barnwell Manor, 1942. Courtesy of Country Life Picture Archive
THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER MIRRORS, Irish, circa 1765
Width: 33¾ in; 86 cm
Further images
A pair of George III giltwood oval mirrors attributed to Richard Cranfield.
Note: The mirrors retain much of the original gilding and the original mirror plates. The top cresting has been restored.
Richard Cranfield’s carved work stands out amongst that of other Irish carvers. Frames carved by his contemporaries such as John and Francis Booker, and even James Robinson, with whom Cranfield worked on numerous occasions, appear relatively sparsely designed in comparison. Cranfield’s designs are bold and confident and full of well-balanced ornamentation, with crisp and exceptionally fine carving. Cranfield also includes some distinctively Irish elements such as the gadrooned borders on the frames, which run in opposite directions on the two mirrors.
Provenance
The Hon. Ernest Guinness and Mrs. Guinness, Luggala, Leinster, Ireland;
Presented to His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, at their wedding in 1935, and later installed at Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire, England.
Literature
The Knight of Glin and James Peill, Irish Furniture, 2007, pp. 128-40.
Illustrated:
Country Life, 28 August 1942, frontispiece.
Christopher Hussey, ‘Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire II’, Country Life, 17 September 1959, p. 301, fig. 11.
