This object is part of a toilet service engraved with the crest of the Earls Brownlow, Lincolnshire. The toilet service represented the height of aristocratic fashion. Women used the many pots and containers for cosmetcs and ointments. The whisk was used to powder wigs. The extravagance and size of many toilet sets demonstrate the public aspect of courtly life. As private rooms were also used to receive guests, the toilet service was displayed to impress visitors. Anne of Austria (1601-66), married to Louis XIII of France, kept a 17-piece gold service in her rooms at the Louvre palace.
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.
Physical description
Rectangular silver-gilt mirror with moulded border and scroll escutcheons engraved with the crest and coronet of the Earls of Brownlow. The pedimental cresting surmounting the mirror has a shaped, reeded border and at each end a projecting plinth with a baluster finial. The whole is surmounted by a vase between openwork scrolls with a pendant foliage swag and flanked by two seated putti holding a similar swag between them.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
ca. 1695 (made)
Artist/maker
Rollos, Philip (the Elder), born 1655 (possibly, maker)
Materials and Techniques
[stand] Silver-gilt, raised, cast, applied, engraved and mirror glass
Marks and inscriptions
No marks
Engraved with the crest and coronet of the Earls of Bromlow
Dimensions
[mirror] Height: 63 cm, Width: 49.2 cm, Depth: 4.5 cm, Weight: 8360 g
Object history note
Provenance: John Egerton, 3rd earl of Bridgewater. Viscount Alford. The earls Brownlow. By descent to the barons Brownlow. Toledo Museum of Art. Purchased from S.J. Phillips Ltd., London, 1982.
Descriptive line
Silver-gilt, glass, London, ca. 1695, Phillip Rollos
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no. 34, pp. 141-47. ISBN.0875871445
Exhibition History
Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of the Historic Plate of the City of London (C) (25 Park Lane, London 01/01/1929-31/12/1929)
Old Silverwork, Chiefly English, from the XVth to the XVIIIth Centuries (Court of St. James 01/01/1902-31/12/1902)
Labels and date
Toilet service
About 1695
The toilet service represented the height of aristocratic
fashion. Women used the many pots and containers
for cosmetics and ointments. The whisk was used to
powder wigs. The extravagance and size of many toilet
sets demonstrate the public aspect of courtly life. As
private rooms were also used to receive guests, the
toilet service was displayed to impress visitors. Anne of
Austria (1601–66), married to Louis XIII of France, kept a
17-piece gold service in her rooms at the Louvre palace.
England;
maker’s mark PR possibly for Philip Rollos (active 1675–1721)
Gilded silver dressing table mirror, caskets, whisk, hairbrush,
salvers, écuelles (shallow bowls), flasks, boxes, candlesticks,
vases and jewel casket
Engraved with crest and coronet of the Earls Brownlow,
Lincolnshire
Museum nos. Loan:Gilbert.623 to 642-2008
Materials
Wood; Leather; Silver-gilt; Mirror
Techniques
Gilding; Engraving (incising); Casting; Raising
Subjects depicted
Crests; Coronets (crowns)
Categories
Furniture; Metalwork
Collection code
MET
