Pier glass
Peter Thuring
Category
Mirrors
Date
1989
Materials
Giltwood, Glass
Measurements
2840 x 1200 x 0 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Uppark House and Garden, West Sussex
NT 137655.1
Summary
One of a pair of English giltwood pier glasses, C.1760, each with double plate, the borders elaborately pierced and carved, the sides with terminal busts, on S scroll supports, bearing baskets of flowers on their heads, the whole with shell and wave ornament and foliage, the tops similarly carved with wave ornament and with trellis and rosette panels surmounted by waved crestings.
Full description
Attributed to Matthias Lock (c.1710 to 1765), these masterpieces of the French inspired English Rococo are also closely comparable to the pier glasses published as plate CLXX in Chippendale's 'Director' (1763). Both glasses were severely damaged by the fire on 30th August 1989. This frame had to have its bottom section cut off and recarved, and has been almost entirely regilded and reglazed (with replacement 19th Century glass). They may have been originally painted white or parcel gilt. Mirror glass is mercury amalgam
Makers and roles
Peter Thuring, conservator