Pier glass
Category
Mirrors
Date
circa 1824 (supplied)
Materials
Probably softwood and limewood, composition, oil gilding, mirror glass
Measurements
249.5 x 160 x 17 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959732.2
Summary
A pair of giltwood pier glasses, English, circa 1824, supplied by Thomas Ward. Each rectangular, and with a beaded sight between fluted lotus-knopped columnar uprights. All beneath a foliate-carved cornice and a frieze centred by an anthemion between tendrils of scrolling foliage. These mirrors were supplied for the Tapestry Room in 1824 by Thomas Ward, a London decorator and upholsterer, based in Frith Street, Soho, whom Charles Winn (1795 - 1874) employed to furnish several unfinished rooms, and to refurbish others. When Sir Rowland Winn, the 5th Baronet, died in 1785, Robert Adam's scheme for the room was left unfinished, and it was never furnished. The silk fabric for the walls and upholstery had still not been chosen in 1781, and the room is described in the inventory of Nostell in 1818 as the 'Unfinished Drawing Room'. Ward hung mid-18th century Brussels tapestries, acquired by Charles Winn in France after the Revolution, by Pierre Van Der Borcht, between 1822 and 1824. At the same time, Ward repainted Adam's ceiling in 'Permanent pink', 'Deep Naples Yellow Green' and 'Green and Crimson'. Ward was also responsible for other refurbishments about the house, such as those in the Billiard Room and Saloon.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of death duties on the estate of Rowland Winn, 4th Baron Oswald (1916 - 1984), 1986.