Dressing table mirror, silver and glass with wooden back, attributed to Paul de Lamerie, circa 1732.

Silver oblong mirror, shaped with volutes and scrolls

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The arms are those of Brownlow impaling Cartwright, for Sir John Brownlow (1701 - 1754), fifth baronet, of Humby. He was elevated to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Charleville and Viscount Tyrconnel in 1718. In 1725 he was made a Knight of the Bath. He first married Eleanor, daughter and coheir of his uncle, Sir John Brownlow. She died in 1730, and on January 24, 1732, he married Elizabeth, daughter of William Cartwright of Marnham, Nottinghamshire. He was a member of Parliament for Grantham and Lincolnshire from 1731 until his death. (Schroder, 1988, p. 207)

The design of the mirror is admittedly somewhat 'retardataire' for its putative date, when most of de Lamerie's work was beginning to incorporate rococo elements, but there is no sign of any alteration, and it can therefore presumably be dated on the evidence of the coat of arms. It seems likely that the mirror formed part of a toilet service purchased on the occassion of Brownlow's second marriage, having possibly been in the goldsmith's stock for some time. A third mirror, silver-gilt, but otherwise identical, was formerly in the collection of the late Francis Stonor (Grimwade, 1960, p. 43, no. 11). This, too, is unmarked; mysteriously, the owner of the monogram, coronet, and supporters that surmount it has not been identified. (Schroder, 1988, p. 209)
Provenance: Sir John Brownlow, Bart., Humby. By descent to the Rt. Hon. Lord Brownlow, sale, Christie's, lot 60 (with a Charles II toilet service), March 13, 1929. Violet, Lady Melchett, sale, Sotheby's, lot 140, June 20, 1946. Purchased by Arthur Gilbert from Partridge (Fine Arts) Ltd., London, 1980.

Although unmarked, the mirror can almost certainly be attributed to Paul de Lamerie, notably drawing from a number of details from Daniel Marot's published designs, which de Lamerie was using extensively during the early 1720s.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.

LOAN:GILBERT.673-2008