The design on which these remarkable mirrors are based was officially registered by the cabinet maker George Sims of 50-152 Aldersgate Street, London, in March 1878 and survives in the National Archives at Kew. Standing at just over 7 feet tall, the mirrors follow the design very closely, although they are given a stricter architectural quality by the decision to leave out the ornamental crest and swag on the drawing.
We recently read a post on the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s blog about the depiction of fruit in painting. This inspired us to consider all of the pieces of furniture in our building that incorporate fruits and vegetables. In anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve selected three delectable pieces from the Carlton Hobbs collection that feature these motifs to whet your decorative arts appetites!
Interior designer Jamie Drake has said “The first thing I’d buy for a glamorous room is a mirrored piece of furniture.” Mirrors engraved with scenes from the hunt were first known to be used within furniture in the drawer fronts of 17th century South German table cabinets. They were incorporated as part of the exploration and display of precious materials within decorative arts objects and have since been applied to many types of furniture in varying degrees throughout history, including chairs, bookcases and commodes.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 1: Jacques Linard; Still Life with Shells and Coral, and a Box; 1640.
According to the Ancient Greeks, after Perseus cut off Medusa’s head, he wished to cleanse himself of the act by bathing in the sea. He placed the head on a bed of seaweed, which upon contact was petrified and turned red. Thus is the myth of the origin of coral described.
Figure 2: Cutting and Polishing Mediterranian Coral. Underwood & Underwood, 1906.
An unusual reverse glass painting depicting a tiger hunt. Carlton Hobbs LLC.
This unusual mirror in the Carlton Hobbs collection once hung in The Star Inn, a Victorian public house located at 2 Quarry Street, Guildford, Surrey. According to Matthew Alexander, former curator of the Guildford Museum:
“[The mirror hung] on the south wall of the Court Room at The Star, above the fireplace. The Court Room is a large function room at the rear of the premises, built in the 1840s. It took its name as the meeting room of the ‘Guildford Castle Court’ of the Ancient Order of Foresters, founded there in 1858 (the treasurer was the pub’s landlord, Jesse Boxall)…the name has led many in later years to speculate that it was used for a legal court – it never was.”1