Mirror in an elaborate, oval frame of carved and gilt wood formed of symmetrical floral scroll-work. The carved ornaments divide the mirror into several lights. English, ca. 1765.

Mirror in an elaborate, oval frame of carved and gilt wood formed of symmetrical scroll-work with flowers, leaves, bullrushes, two cranes and rococo ornament. The carved ornaments divide the mirror into several lights. At the base are three scrolled candle branches. The left hand candle socket and drip pan are missing.

Gilding:

Purchased from the Bernal sale

Museum negative 74591 shows this on display in Gallery 40 in 1936 as part of a display of Georgian furniture. Part of it is just visible on the extreme left of the photo.

Provenance

Ralph Bernal (1783-1854) was a renowned collector and objects from his collection are now in museums across the world, including the V&A. He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family of Spanish descent, but was baptised into the Christian religion at the age of 22. Bernal studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became a prominent Whig politician. He built a reputation for himself as a man of taste and culture through the collection he amassed and later in life he became the president of the British Archaeological Society. Yet the main source of income which enabled him to do this was the profits from enslaved labour.

In 1811, Bernal inherited three sugar plantations in Jamaica, where over 500 people were eventually enslaved. Almost immediately, he began collecting works of art and antiquities. After the emancipation of those enslaved in the British Caribbean in the 1830s, made possible in part by acts of their own resistance, Bernal was awarded compensation of more than £11,450 (equivalent to over £1.5 million today). This was for the loss of 564 people enslaved on Bernal's estates who were classed by the British government as his 'property'. They included people like Antora, and her son Edward, who in August 1834 was around five years old (The National Archives, T 71/49). Receiving the money appears to have led to an escalation of Bernal's collecting.

When Bernal died in 1855, he was celebrated for 'the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge' (Christie and Manson, 1855). His collection was dispersed in a major auction during which the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, which later became the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), was the biggest single buyer.

Attributed to Chippendale. In John Hungerford Pollen's catalogue Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork, 1874, this mirror and the other acquired by the Museum at the Bernal Collection Sale (2388-1855) were attributed to Chippendale on stylistic grounds. Oliver Brackett linked them to two 'very large oval Glasses' supplied by Chippendale to the Duke of Portland in 1766, in his 1924 book on Chippendale. The mirrors are not a pair. However, they were both originally part of separate pairs. The mirror is similar in style to some plates in the Director (Pls. CLXVII and CLXVIII) but this is not an indication that it was made by Chippendale.

Although here labelled as a mirror, this type of object in the 18th century was also described as a girandole or sconce. It is fitted with three arms to support candles. The mirror glass reflects the candlelight to increase the volume of light. Earlier sconces had metal backplates which also reflected candle light. Here, the girandole frame has become a vehicle for elaborate Rococo carving, with flowers, leaves, bullrushes and birds (cranes often called ho-ho birds). The gilded carved surfaces also reflect candlelight.

This frame is very close to some of Chippendale's published designs. It may have been made in his workshop, or by another highly-skilled carver taking ideas from his designs. Carvers routinely varied details of a design as they worked. In his notes to another design, Chippendale advised that 'A skilful Carver may, in the Execution of this and the following Designs, give full Scope to his Capacity'.

Large sheets of plate glass were imported from France at this date. The complex design of this mirror incorporates both smaller and larger sections of glass. For the smaller sections, offcuts from larger pieces could be used, thus making the most of this expensive material.

2387-1855