Thomas Chippendale Mirror
Thomas Chippendale was one the most significant furniture creators of the 18th century, achieving an international reputation and producing beautiful designs that have echoed through generations of furniture-making. This mirror in particular combines both Irish taste and Chippendale styles with an elegant, flowing and fruitful frame filled with ripening vines, imaginative rococo scrolls and chinoiserie flair.
During the 18th century there was an increasing demand for a luxury market, and in 1754 Chippendale published 'The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director', a subscription pattern book that ensured he was perceived as one of the most influential and impressive cabinetmakers of his time. The book contained 161 engravings of a wide range of domestic furniture in the ‘Gothic, Chinese and Modern Taste’ (rococo) as well as plainer, more practical pieces. Chippendale, through this innovative showcase of design, became wildly successful, and his pattern book was reissued twice, in 1755 and 1762, with additional plates in the Neoclassical style that was quickly becoming a society favourite.
Chippendale excelled over his contemporaries due to his superb understanding of design and craftmanship, with many of the pieces ensuring function and practicality was met as well as beauty.
