Pier glass
James Whittle (fl.1731 - 1759)
Category
Mirrors
Date
circa 1754 - circa 1759
Materials
Carved and gilded wood, glass
Measurements
126 cm (Width)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485374
Summary
A giltwood pier-glass, circa 1755, of rectangular form and surmounted by scrolling acanthus leaves. This mirror was supplied to the second Earl of Egremont by the London firm of carvers and gilders of James Whittle (fl.1731-1759) and Thomas Whittle (died in 1755), then in partnership with Samuel Norman (fl.1746-1782). They worked for the 2nd Earl when he refurnished Petworth from 1750, as per considerable payments to James and Thomas Whittle and Whittle & Norman between 1753-59. They supplied a series of impressive rococo pier-glasses including the present which is very similar to a pair of pier-glasses at Holkham attributed to James Whittle.
Provenance
Supplied to the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) by James Whittle (active 1731-d.1759). Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Makers and roles
James Whittle (fl.1731 - 1759), maker
References
Rowell 2012 : Christopher Rowell, Petworth, The People and the Place, Scala, 2012