A while ago we shared a post giving an overview of the history of mirrors. Today we are highlighting a rare William & Mary marquetry mirror. In the manner of Gerrit Jensen. This exceptional large scale William and Mary walnut and fruitwood marquetry wall mirror features inlaid shaped cresting, and the rectangular mirror plate is within a cushion-moulded border elaborately inlaid with trailing flowerheads, foliage and scrolling arabesques, with bone-inlaid floral details.
A mirror, circa 1675, with related floral marquetry and of virtually identical dimensions was in the collection of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale, at Ham House, Surrey. The Ham House mirror has recently been attributed to Gerrit Jensen (d. 1715), who was Dutch by birth but worked for the English Royal Family and nobility. The similarity if the present Dutch mirror to the Ham House mirror, described as English, demonstrates the close affinity and cross-over between English and Dutch furniture of this period.
This mirror was in the collection of Asprey & Co., London, in 1977 and was highlighted in Apollo in November of that year. It later entered the collection of a Private Swiss collector.