220
662
AN IRISH ROCOCO COMPARTMENTED GILT-WOOD PIER MIRROR,
with ribbed scroll cresting, leaf wrapped scrolling sides, punched diaper border, flanked by flamboyant ‘
Chinese
’ birds, with scrolled base
centred by a double Venus shell. 201.5cm high, 116cm wide
Provenance: Castle Coole, Co. Fermanagh, and offered for sale Stackallan Hosue Sale, Christies & Hamilton Osborne King 20/10/1992, Lot 145
This enigmatic mirror has always divided opinion. In the Stackallan catalogue it is dated “
2nd quarter of the 19th Century
”, however exami-
nation of its back and the fact that the (replaced) plate is divided suggests an 18th Century origin.
The vigorous carving of the extraordinary birds, recalls features of giltwood carving being supplied to Joseph Leeson at Russborough. Its
presence at Castle Coole is unexplained and certainly it would not have been congenial to the taste of the puritan Galbraith Lowry(-Corry),
1706-1769, or to the strict neo-classicism of his son.
Since the Stackallan sale, a not altogether successful attempt has been made to reinstate the missing elements, disguised by recent gilding
€5000 - 8000
