A particulalry rare large sized, Charles II olivewood oyster-veneered and green-stained bone marquetry mirror, the original rectangular plate within an ovolo-moulded cushion frame inlaid with floral marquetry, the corners featuring sprays of foliage and flowers, the panels featuring birds perched on branches issuing leaves and flowers.

Floral marquetry first appeared in England in around 1670, when it was imported from France where the fashion had been begun by immigrant Dutch ébéniste Pierre Gole supplying marquetry furniture to Louis VIX from 1661. Well-known diarist John Evelyn in the 1670 edition of Silva first described the technique in England:

‘…when they would imitate the natural turning of Leaves in their curious Compartiments and bordures of Flower-works, they effect it by dipping the pieces (first cut into shape and ready to In-lay) so far into hot Sand, as they would have the shadow and the heat of the Sand darkens it so gradually, without detriment or burning the thin Chip, as one would conceive it to be natural.’

Interestingly, Evelyn’s first edition of Silva, published in 1664, makes no real mention of the technique, suggesting that it was not known at that time, but that six years later in 1670 it had become so and somewhat widely-practised. In any case, it was certainly well-known by 1675 when London cabinet-maker Edward Traherne’s stock-in-trade included numerous items of ‘inlaid’ and ‘flower’d’ furniture and William Farnborough was supplying mirrors to King Charles II, in the case of an example for the lodge at Richmond for £50 in 1677.

At this time, marquetry was a highly-specialised form of technique practised only by a few expert craftsmen. Although styles of marquetry pieces at this time varied, the quality did not. A cabinet (Plate 2:40) and mirror (Plate 4:59) installed at Ham House between 1679 and 1683 exemplify the taste for profusely decorated furniture, whilst a cabinet of circa 1675 from the collection of Lady Assheton-Smith (Fig. 5.) demonstrates the preference for the more sparing use of inlay.

These early examples differ only in terms of the quantity of marquetry used; the quality, both in design and execution, in each case is exceptional. As, however, demand for marquetry pieces grew with time, an increasing number of cabinet-makers took to the technique to produce reduced quality furniture at a reduced cost, and the overall quality of marquetry in England declined, with examples dating from 1690-1700 often featuring more crowded marquetry patterns and less accomplished cutting, shading and laying and missing (c.f. Plates 2:42 & 4:58).

With its high quality and spacious design, the marquetry contained in ebony tablets, the present mirror dates from 1675-85, the height of marquetry furniture in seventeenth-century England. In design and quality, it compares closely with an example at the V&A from 1675-85 (77056). Unlike lesser quality examples, the two both feature costly green-stained bone, imitating the green leaves of flowers and plants to striking visual effect, as well as oyster-cut veneers, unlike examples decorated with straight-cut timber.