Lot 145Y
A rare 18th century Vizagapatam toilet mirror
Amended
20 November 2013, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £6,250 inc. premium
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A rare 18th century Vizagapatam toilet mirror
The shaped rectangular bevelled plate and frame flanked by square uprights with turned ivory finials, above a rectangular base with wreathed inlay and three frieze drawer, on ogee bracket feet, 57cm wide, 23cm deep, 66cm high (22in wide, 9in deep, 25.5in high).
Footnotes
Provenance:
Brigadier General Hubert Horatio Shirley Morant of The Hermitage, Hexham.
In the early part of the 19th century the Hermitage was the seat of John Hunter Esq (d.1821), who was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1805. The Hermitage was let to the Morant family from 1922 until 2013.
Brigadier-General Hubert Horatio Shirley Morant, D.S.O. (1870-1946), was a veteran of the Nile campaign of 1898. Born on December 27, 1870, he was educated at Charterhouse and Sandhurst. He was gazetted in The Durham Light Infantry and served with the Egyptian Army from 1898 to 1908. For his part in the Nile campaign he was mentioned in dispatches and decorated with the Order of Osmanieh and Medjidieh. He raised and commanded the 10th Battalion of The Durham Light Infantry in the 1914-18 war and on promotion to Brigadier-General he commanded the 3rd and later the 147th Infantry Brigades. Wounded four times, he received the D.S.O. In 1919 he reverted to his regiment and, until 1923, commanded the 1st Battalion. He retired in 1927, having since 1924 commanded the Territorial Northumberland Infantry Brigade. In 1937 he received the honour of appointment as Colonel of his old regiment.
This rare form of toilet mirror relates to various examples of table bureau from Vizagapatam, a port on the northern stretches of the Coromandel Coast, their bases usually with sloping falls and serpentine or arcaded frieze drawers. See A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, p. 189 (no.40), for a rosewood and ivory inlaid example of circa 1740-60, which uses a similar feathery S-shaped leaf pattern which relates to early 18th century Coromandel Coast chintzes for the Dutch market. This design is found primarily on ivory-inlaid furniture rather than ivory-veneered furniture. Similar documented examples to the Jaffer toilet mirror exist, including one which was sent by a relation in India to a Mary Oliphant on the occasion of her marriage in 1754 (sold Phillips, London 27 November 1990, lot 91). The upper part of the Oliphant mirror can be closely compared with the offered lot which also features the aforementioned S shaped leaves around the mirror frame.
Saleroom notices
Please note: in the printed catalogue a star (*) appears to the side of the lot number, this is incorrect and what should appear is a 'y' to indicate that as this item contains ivory it will be be subject to Cites if exported outside of the EU.