Pier glass
possibly William Bradshaw (1700 - 1775)
Category
Mirrors
Date
1740
Materials
Carved, gilded and painted softwood, glass
Measurements
229 x 88 x 12 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140077
Summary
A pier-glass, from a pair with (NT 114078), circa 1743, in carved, painted and gilded wood. The mirror is oval and set in a frame surmounted by a basket of fruit, suspended by carved ribbons above a framed neoclassical profile cameo in oval. At the base of the oval frame is a pierced acanthus shell. There is no documentation to retrace the commission of these pier glasses but an assumption that they were supplied for the 4 Earl of Dysart, as for the pair in the Queen's Bed Chamber, and therefore possibly by William Bradshaw.
Provenance
In the Drawing Room (previously "The Volury Room") as recorded in the inventory of Ham House in 1844 : "Two oval pier glasses in white and gold frames plates 36 by 24". Acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002.
Makers and roles
possibly William Bradshaw (1700 - 1775), upholsterer possibly William Bradshaw (1700 - 1775), cabinetmaker
References
Rowell 2013: Christopher Rowell (ed.), Ham House, 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage, Yale University Press, New Haven & London 2013, p.288-289