An Irish George III giltwood marginal pier mirror by Francis and John Booker (active: 1750-1789)

Circa 1760

Footnotes

Provenance
The offered lot previously formed part of the collection of Will Fisher, the founder and co-director of Jamb, located on Pimlico Road, London.
The present mirror subsequently sold Christie's, London, 2 February 2012, The Collection of Will Fisher: Founder of Jamb, lot 16, from which auction it was purchased by the current owner and vendor.

This is a magnificent example of what is often referred to as a 'tabernacle' or pier mirror. It is typical of some of the finest works produced by the Irish partnership of Francis and John Booker who are variously documented, or historically referred to, as 'Glass Grinders', 'Looking Glass Merchants' or 'Glass Sellers'. During the period, 1761-1772, the Bookers' operation was based at No. 6 Essex Bridge, in Dublin. Although the influence of William Kent, who had flourished a generation or so previously, upon the impressive output of the Bookers is much evident, mirrors such as the present one appear arguably closer in terms of their architectural form and detailing to the designs of William Jones.

Comparable precursors to the current mirror, and other closely related models, made by the Bookers, feature among the twenty patterns executed and provided by Jones for his 1739 publication, "The Gentleman or Builders Companion, containing a variety of useful designs for doors, gateways, peers, pavilions, temples, chimney-pieces, slab tables, pier glasses or tabernacle frames, etc". It is interesting to note that this influential work of design arrived in Dublin, also in 1739. It is recorded that William Jones's "Companion" was sold from a shop run by Robert Owen on Skinners Row, from where it seems probable that the Bookers would have viewed, or more likely, purchased their own copy of this compilation.

A recurrent aspect of 'looking glasses' made by the Bookers is the immediate mirrored surround of the main plate, which is frequently, as on the offered example, applied with a repeating chain of giltwood ornamentation, either comprised of oscillating or interlocking motifs. On the above this pattern, which is composed of pairs of opposing c-scrolls that alternate with smaller roundels, is identical to the border chain on a c.1770 mirror supplied by the Bookers' firm to Rath House, Co. Leix, on behalf of the Dease family. The latter is illustrated in The Knight of Glin and J. Peill, Irish Furniture, Woodwork and Carving in Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Act of Union, 2007, New Haven and London, fig. 227, p. 262.

Two more comparables with this same type of distinctive decorative surround appear in The Knight of Glin, "A Family of Looking-Glass Merchants", Country Life, 28 January 1971, fig. 4, pp.'s 195-199, and G. Wills, English Looking-Glasses: A Study of the Glass, Frames and Makers (1670-1820), 1965, London, pl.'s 52 & 53, p. 84. The first of which formed part of the collection of the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava at the time of publication of this Country Life article, whilst notably the other is also surmounted by a very similar c-scroll and foliate cresting to that which crowns the present lot.

Further closely related mirrors produced by the Bookers include three stunning models featured in The Knight of Glin and J. Peill, Irish Furniture, Woodwork and Carving in Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Act of Union, 2007, New Haven and London, fig.'s 224-226, p. 261. Two of which are dated therein to c.1760, whilst the third is cited as being c.1770, largely due to a classical roundel in the centre of its apron. Intriguingly, one of the c.1760 versions bears a virtually identical trade label to that which is applied to the reverse of the above. It seems almost certainly the case that fig. 224, which is noted by the authors as being at Malahide Castle, Co. Dublin, is the same as the one described as being in the Drawing Room at the same location in G. A. Kenyon, The Irish Furniture at Malahide Castle, 1994, Dublin, pp.'s 16-17.

Numbered among those of an equivalent nature which have sold at auction are a mirror with a printed Booker label, "Newtown Park House, Blackrock, Co. Dublin", Christie's, London, 20-22 September 1976, lot 53; one by John and William Book, Christie's, London, 27 June 1985, lot 130; an example attributed to Francis and John Booker, Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1986, lot 42; and finally a 'looking glass' attributed to the Bookers, "The Di Portanova Collection", Christie's, New York, 20 October 2000, lot 89.