Mirror, English, 1720-1740, giltwood

Wall mirror, about 1700, with a rectangular glass and a gilded wood frame. The frame is carved in gesso in low relief. The narrow inner frame is carved with acanthus leaves. It is decorated at the top with a broken, curved-scroll cresting carved with gadrooning and egg and dart ornament, each side terminating with a floret. The central shield-shaped plaque is carved with leaves and flowers. The cresting is supported at each side with 'ear pieces' carved with eagles' heads. The lower edge and corners of the mirror frame have are surrounded by shaped panels with low-relief carving of leaves and shells, with a support for a candle branch at each side.

Bequeathed by J.A Tulk

The first correspondence from Mr John . A. Tulk to the V&A Museum is dated 5 February 1929. The letter conveys the wish to bequest several items from Mr John Tulk and his sister, Miss Anna Augusta Marie Tulk’s private collection, including the mirrors, a Della Robbia plaque and a collection of French and English furniture to the V&A Museum. In consultation with the V&A Museum several pieces were chosen and were accessioned on the death of both siblings in 1956. Much of the family’s collection was inherited by the siblings from their grandfather. The siblings were both unmarried with no direct heirs.

Loan items from Tulk’s collection of Wedgwood ceramics were displayed in the Museum’s Wedgwood Bicentenary Exhibition in 1930.

Anna Tulk died on 16 May 1934 and in the 22 years before his death in 1956, Mr John Tulk gave several ceramic and woodwork pieces. During this period, Mr Tulk added considerably to his collection and increased the original bequest to include a substantial range of Meissen, Sevres and English porcelain, as well as furniture, silverware and etchings by William Blake.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, East London was an important production centre for luxury plate glass and mirrored glass. As early as the 1620s, Abraham Bigoe of Stepney was established as a well-known glass manufacturer of this area. It is thought that Bigoe was a French Protestant refugee who fled his country after the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572 and brought his skills with him. He was clearly a successful businessman as he also had glass houses in Ratcliff and the Isle of Purbeck. By the late 17th century, during the reign of Charles II, London glass had gained an international reputation through the innovative experiments of Thomas Tilston, who created the first specimens of almost colourless transparent glass. Tilson discovered that by adding a small amount of lead to glass he could produce the brightest and clearest glass yet made. He obtained an early form of patent for his discovery and went on to dominate the international glass and mirror plate market. It is not known if the glass in this mirror was made in London.

When glass-making technology improved in the early 18th century, large wall-mirrors could be produced with a single plate of glass. Large gilt wall-mirrors such as this one were often placed on walls between windows, to bounce light back into the room.The style of this mirror, with its rectangular mirror plate and swan-necked pediment, suggests a date of about 1720-1740.

This object is on loan to Sewerby Hall.

CIRC.808-1956