Mirror painting
Chinese School
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1767
Materials
Mirror glass, Paint, Softwood, Gilding
Measurements
1340 x 1760 mm
Place of origin
Guangzhou
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 771801
Summary
Chinese mirror painting, mid eighteenth century, in carved and gilded frame supplied by John Linnell after a design by Robert Adam in 1767. The painting depicts a lady seated in a garden on the edge of a lake or waterway, with various buildings visible beyond. The painting is similar in style and composition to two Chinese mirror paintings at Dyrham Park (NT 452428, Roger Clarke bequest, and NT 452429, originally from the Hoare collection at Stourhead). The frame consists of an openwork scrolling acanthus border enclosed by egg-and-dart moulding, with an inverted anthemion surrounded by scrolling acanthus below and a rocaille shell with acanthus above, surmounted by a ribbon tied in a bow and garlands of husks. The design of the frame is closely related to that of the pier glass in the same room (NT 771807), and both are related to the frieze of the chimneypiece.
Provenance
Probably supplied around 1760 after designs by Robert Adam; listed in the 1871 Osterley inventory (p.41, Taffeta Bed Room) as 'Chinese Landscape painted on Glass in ornamental Italian carved Gilt frame, frame slightly broken.'
Makers and roles
Chinese School, artist Robert Adam (Kirkcaldy 1728 - London 1792), designer John Linnell (1729 - 1796), cabinetmaker