3 designs for looking glasses; John Linnell.

'No. 135' A design for an oval pier glass. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. The frame is vertically aligned and features neoclassical moulding. The urn finial sits high above the glass, supported by acanthus scrolls. The base of the urn sits on a ram's head. Husk festoons fall from the ram's head and the urn. Acanthus scrolls support the husk festoon along the sides of the frame. The apron features a flower, a lattice of curving scrolls, and a fluted base with a patera either side and husks.

'No. 133' A design for a rectangular frame. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. The moulding features lozenge shapes, fluting and laurel and stick. There is no decoration on the sides. An oval urn finial sits on top of a triangular base. Two large acanthus s-scrolls reach from the base of the urn to the corner of the frame. Husk festoons hang from the vase. The apron features husk festoons which loop around leaf scrolls and a patera.

'No. 131' A design for an overmantel, with the mantel drawn in below the design for the looking glass. The glass is rectangular and aligned horizontally. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. The frame features bead and reel moulding and fluting. The apron features acanthus scrolls. There are broad leaf scrolls on the sides. The urn finial is broad, decorated with a snake or bird. The right handle is the head of this animal. Above the urn is a large bow which is connected to the main frame by husk festoons. Husk festoons also run from the bow, either side and loop over 2 paterae.

'No. 134' Below design number 131 is a design, perhaps a detail from 131 which features scalloping, husk festoons and foliage.

'No. 132' is also placed below 131. It is a design for a girandole. It features a serpentine form with leaf scrolls, and a bow detail one third of the way up.

'No. 130' A design for an oval pier glass with a large and elaborate crest. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. The frame is vertically aligned. The frame features neoclassical moulding. The apron features a large ram's head, with husk festoons draped through its horns. Husk festoons are supported by acanthus scrolls around the sides. A large, almost crescent-shaped urn with fluting and acanthus leaves is the centrepiece of the crest. Behind the urn, two sticks with ribbon-and-stick moulding rise, meeting at a sphere which is positioned above the urn. Two ribbons emerge from either side of the sphere. Above the sphere is a large bow. From this bow husk swags fall and run behind the flowered tops of the two large leaf scrolls. The husks curl over a patera either side of the frame.

This design is part of a group of over 900 drawings of frames, mainly for pier glasses, overmantels, and girandoles. Many of these workshop designs share similar characteristics such as leaf scrolls and festoons of husks. Most of them are numbered, contain information about who ordered them, the date, the price (written in code), the colour of the frame and the dimensions of the finished object.

The drawings from John Linnell's workshop survive over the period 1773 to 1783. From April 1773 to August 1778, the workshop produced about twelve pieces a month. Production decreased over the next two years to 3 or 4 pieces a month. In 1783 these designs were no longer produced.

Robert Adam, a leading architect, was a key influence on the neoclassical designs of John Linnell. Linnell worked with Adam for the first time at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, and they worked together on a number of other occasions. In the early 1770s festoons of husks began to be used on pier glasses and they are very prominent within these workshop designs.

John Linnell (1729-1796) was the son of the famous furniture maker William Linnell (ca. 1703-1763). Unlike most furniture makers, John Linnell gained a design education at the St. Martin's Lane Academy, which was founded by William Hogarth in 1735. In 1750, aged 21, he joined his father's firm as a designer. On his father's death in 1763, John Linnell took over the family firm. During his lifetime John Linnell produced high quality furniture, which rivalled that of other leading furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale, John Cobb and William Ince and John Mayhew.

E.3490-1911