A pair of George II giltwood and gesso girandoles of impressive, large size, each with their original shaped plates bordered by intricately carved acanthus leaves, C-scrolls, rockwork, icicles, and rocaille ornament, surmounted by a tall, pierced foliate plume. Each mirror with an applied paper collection label on the reverse bearing a coat of arms and the phrase ‘VIRTUS SEMPER VIRIDI’, over the text ‘Theodore A. Cory, HAMPTON COURT’

Girandoles, or sconces, are terms that designate any kind of movable lantern, candlestick and fixed wall light. However, the first sconces resembling the mirror-plated girandoles of the eighteenth century date from the early sixteenth when examples with metal backplates, burnished to reflect candlelight like mirrors would do later, are recorded in the inventories of Henry VIII and rulers and important houses on the Continent, such as the Medici in Italy whose fine jewelled example is now in the Louvre.

This mode of wall light, made in copper and brass (as well as earthenware – an important example in the British Museum moulded in relief with the Royal Arms is of yellow glazed ware), prevailed into the late seventeenth century. Examples in copper and brass are in the Hardwick inventory of 1601 and that of Ham House taken in the 1660s. Scones such as these were profusely decorated, ‘with Faces, others with Birds, Beasts, Fish, Trees and Flowers, some with round or oval embossed works’, as Randle Holme wrote.

It was sconces in silver, however, that were most fashionable in Restoration England and a set of eight, circa 1690, with shield-shaped backplates and borders chased and pierced with acanthus foliage, surmounted by amorini beside the crowned cypher of William III, represents the apotheosis of silver craftsmanship at this time.

It was only by this time that scones with backplates of looking glass became popular. Mirror glass production had been established in England as a recognisable organised industry since 1618 when Robert Mansell gained a manufacturing monopoly which lasted until 1640 when it was ended by Charles I. However, the production of plate did not begin on a wide scale – so expensive and difficult was it – until the last quarter of the century when George Villiers, 2^nd Duke of Buckingham, emerged as a leading producer of mirror glass with his celebrated enterprise known as the Vauxhall Glass Works.

Following this, girandoles with mirror plates flourished, and the term came to imply the existence of mirror plate, as is suggested by Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary which defined the term as ‘a pensile candlestick, generally with a looking glass to reflect the light’. Throughout the eighteenth century examples were made in a diverse range of styles. First there was a preference was for tall, narrow, silver-bordered girandoles and by the end one for girandoles in the Adam and Neoclassical style. During the middle of the century, when this pair was made, taste was for examples in the rich Rococo, and this pair is a very fine example of this design phenomenon.

The Rococo

The final expression of the Baroque movement and popular in England from the 1730s until the 1760s, the Rococo was an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration combining asymmetry, an abundance of scrolling curves, counter-curves, undulations, elements modelled on nature, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, and trompe-l’œil frescoes to create surprise and drama, inspire awe and wonder, and produce the illusion of motion and three dimension.

Asymmetrical and carved profusely with foliage, C-scrolls, rockwork, icicles, and rocaille ornament, this pair of girandoles embodies this artistic movement. They are extravagant and ornate and whilst their twisting, winding design captures the playful, exuberant nature of the Rococo they retain great elegance, refinement and poise.