QING DYNASTY, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Of the designs produced by Chinese painters for the export market in the 18th century, the reverse-painted mirror depicting the jardinière filled with cockscomb flowers and a clock is particularly rare. A rendering of the same scene features on the plate inset into the lowest-right corner of a reverse-painted overmantel mirror that once belonged to the prominent British socialite Alice Frederica Keppel (1868-1947), wife to George Keppel and favorite mistress of King Edward VII (sold Christie's, London, 6 July 2016, lot 322). Likewise, the reverse-painted mirror depicting the tazza of lychees is an identical composition to the uppermost plate inset into a reverse-painted overmantel mirror from Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, most recently sold from the Collection of Pierre Durand (Christie's, New York, 26 Jan 2022, lot 69). It is highly likely that the current mirrors along with their counterparts originated in the same workshop in China (see: T. Audric, Chinese Reverse Glass Painting 1720-1820 – An Artistic Meeting Between China and the West, Peter Lang, 2020).
It is worthy to note that the aforementioned virtually identical examples were both used as plates which were inset into overmantel mirrors, the frames for which were made in England by pre-eminent London cabinet-makers. In these instances, the reverse-painted mirrors were probably the patron's own (note Chippendale’s 1767 invoice to Sir Rowland Winn at Nostell Priory: 'to 2 oval glass frames richly carvd gilt in burnish gold and glass border d & cutting & fixing your own glasses in ditto'; C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 186). This can be compared to the practice where patrons were expected to supply imported lacquer panels from Asia to be refashioned as veneer on case pieces by their cabinet-makers. This information introduces the possibility that the current reverse-painted mirrors, which have later and associated frames, may have originally formed part of an overmantel mirror that was later damaged, but from which they survived. Or, equally plausible, they were among many reverse-painted mirror plates imported from China and obtained by patrons for various purposes, being later re-framed to suit their current owner's needs.