Mirror (pier glass) of rococo form, with carved and gilded frame carved as C and S scrolls, palms, flowers and two long-beaked birds

Mirror in frame of carved gilt wood, formed of symmetrical scroll-work with flowers, leaves, two cranes and rococo ornament, the whole surmounted by a vase of flowers. At the base are three scrolled candle-branches.

Acquired in the sale of the collection of Ralph Bernal, Christie's, London, 5 March 1855, along with 2387-1855. The pair to this mirror (sold with it at the Bernal Sale) is now in a private collection and was exhibited as cat. no. 2.1 in the tercentenary exhibition 'Thomas Chippendale 1718-1779. A Celebration of British Craftsmanship and Design', held at Leeds City Museum, February to June 2018. That mirror is missing the vase cresting and the uppermost foliage behind the birds.

In 1934 Oliver Brackett suggested that the pair of mirrors were those that Chippendale supplied to the Duke of Portland in 1766 ('two very large oval glasses..... with three branches for candles') but this provenance is no longer deemed correct (see article by Leela Meinertas, 2015, under references). It does, however, seem possible to attribute the mirror to Chippendale, even though its provenance is unknown.

On display in the British Galleries since 2001.

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.

Object Type
Although described as a mirror, this piece doubles as a girandole or sconce, 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 artificial light. Here, the girandole frame has become a vehicle for elaborate Rococo carving, with flowers, leaves, bullrushes and birds (cranes). The gilded carved surfaces also reflect candlelight.

Design & Designing
This mirror is very similar to designs for glass frames published by Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) in the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1762) as plates 167 and 168. Outlandish crane-like birds also feature in his design for 'girendoles', plate 178, which is dated 1760. Chippendale engaged a team of engravers to prepare his designs for publication, thus each of these three by him was engraved by a different hand (W. Foster, M. Darly and B. Clowes).

Materials & Making
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.

2388-1855