Pier glass
James Whittle (fl.1731 - 1759)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1755 - circa 1769
Materials
Carved and gilded wood, glass
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485396
Summary
A large giltwood pier-glass supplied circa 1755 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). As per records of considerable payments to Whittle and Whittle & Norman in 1753-59, they worked for the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) when he refurnished Petworth House from 1750. This mirror belongs to a series of most impressive carved pier-glasses that remain at Petworth and are considered amongst the greatest examples of English rococo, of which the centre-piece is (NT 485413).
Provenance
Supplied for the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) between 1753-1759. 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 Samuel Norman (fl.1746-1782), maker
References
Rowell 2012 : Christopher Rowell, Petworth, The People and the Place, Scala, 2012 Jackson-Stops, 1977: Gervase Jackson-Stops. “The furniture at Petworth.” Apollo 105.183 (1977): pp.358-66.