Pair of Chinese Gilded Style Carved Gilt Mirrors

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This highly decorative pair of Chinese Chippendale-style giltwood mirrors, dating to the mid-20th century, is a wonderfully elaborate revival of … Read more This highly decorative pair of Chinese Chippendale-style giltwood mirrors, dating to the mid-20th century, is a wonderfully elaborate revival of the fanciful Anglo-Chinese designs made fashionable in eighteenth-century England. Combining the exuberant curves of the Rococo with stylized Chinese-inspired ornament, the mirrors possess an unusually light, open, almost garden-like quality. The Chinese Chippendale vocabulary was popularized by Thomas Chippendale's influential The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, where European Rococo forms were imaginatively combined with pagodas, fretwork, exotic birds, foliage, and other chinoiserie motifs.

Each mirror centers on a tall rectangular looking glass, surrounded by a relatively narrow molded gilt frame. Rather than enclosing the plate within a heavy solid border, the maker has surrounded it with an elaborate pierced and openwork giltwood composition, allowing the wall behind to become part of the design. This airy construction is one of the pair's most attractive features.

The upper crestings are especially elaborate. Each rises to a tall central flame- or palmette-shaped finial, positioned above a spreading canopy of carved acanthus leaves. Beneath this is a suspended cluster of grapes and broad vine leaves, framed architecturally by slender vertical members. Graceful curved branches sweep outward in both directions, terminating in tightly curled scrolls and floral ornaments. The combination of scrolling Rococo lines with fanciful architectural elements is characteristic of the Chinese Chippendale tradition, although this particular design is more botanical than many examples incorporating pagodas and Ho-Ho birds. Historic Chinese Chippendale mirrors frequently combine precisely this sort of open scrollwork and naturalistic foliage with exotic decorative motifs.

Running down either side of the mirror plates are beautifully modeled grapevines, complete with twisting stems, serrated leaves, tendrils, and numerous pendant bunches of grapes. These naturalistic vines provide a particularly rich sculptural dimension, standing almost independently from the principal frame rather than simply being carved onto its surface.

The lower corners introduce another architectural element: small Chinese-inspired open fret or railing motifs, from which sweeping C-scrolls descend toward the base. At the bottom, opposing scrolls form a broad, symmetrical apron centered by a shell- or floral-like cartouche. The resulting composition is animated and intricate yet remarkably balanced.

The warm gilt finish unifies this abundance of carving, emphasizing raised leaves, grapes, scrolls, moldings, and architectural details while producing changing highlights as the mirrors are viewed from different angles. The glass plates show the reflective character and minor surface variations one would expect from vintage mirrors of this period.

As a matched pair, these mirrors are considerably more versatile and visually impressive than a single example. They can flank a fireplace, doorway, console, chest, or architectural feature, or be positioned symmetrically on opposing walls.

Although made during the mid-1900s rather than the Georgian period, they faithfully capture the fantasy and decorative spirit of eighteenth-century Chinese Chippendale design. Comparable twentieth-century revival mirrors continued to employ pagoda-like architectural details, open fretwork, scrolling foliage, and elaborate giltwood surrounds.

With their pierced giltwood frames, sculptural grapevines, abundant foliage, scrolling Rococo ornament, Chinese-inspired fretwork, dramatic crestings, and beautifully balanced proportions, this handsome pair represents a particularly decorative mid-century interpretation of the enduring Chinese Chippendale tradition.



Dimensions: 42 inches high x 24.5 inches wide x 1 inch deep See less