A GEORGE III GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR, DESIGNED BY ROBERT ADAM FOR HENRY, 2ND EARL BATHURST, 1778, APSLEY HOUSE, LONDON, THE CARVED ELEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO SEFFERIN NELSON

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR
DESIGNED BY ROBERT ADAM FOR HENRY, 2ND EARL BATHURST, 1778, APSLEY HOUSE, LONDON, THE CARVED ELEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO SEFFERIN NELSON
Of architectural form surmounted by a stag (lacking antlers) reclining on a tablet decorated with paterae and draped swags, the inverted breakfront frieze above a central rectangular plate between further narrow plates divided by slender square pilasters, conceived with further decorative elements likely subsequently removed, minor losses and replacements, the gilding retouched
58 x 74 in. (147.5 x 188 cm.)

Provenance

Almost certainly supplied by Robert Adam to Henry, 2nd Earl Bathurst (1714-1794) for Apsley House, London and at Apsley House until circa 1807.
Subsequently moved to Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire by 1812, and by descent in the collection of the Earls Bathurst.

ROBERT ADAM'S MIRROR FOR THE LIBRARY AT APSLEY HOUSE

When the Lord Chancellor, Henry, 1st Baron Apsley (later 2nd Earl Bathurst, 1714-94), wanted a prominent London house, he turned to the most fashionable architect-designer of the day, Robert Adam (1728-92), to design Apsley House at the top of Piccadilly - No. 1 London. The five-bay red brick mansion was built between 1771-78 at a cost of £10,000, and was reputed to have been ‘the most notable act of his [Bathurst's] life’. The commission also comprised Adam interiors including a stylish Etruscan-style room, and furnishings. Twenty-six of Adam’s designs for furniture for the mansion dated circa 1778-79 have survived, including a design for this overmantel mirror, and are now in the collection of Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Adam was assisted in his endeavour by many of the craftsmen he used on a regular basis: Ince & Mayhew, Sefferin Nelson, Joseph Rose, John Devall and Antonio Zucchi. The importance of the commission was such that Adam referred to it in the Preface to his Works of Architecture (vol. II, 1773). In 1779, following its completion, Hannah More, the Countess Bathurst’s friend recorded: ‘Apsley House is finished; and most superbly furnished, and, which is not always the case with superb things, it is very beautiful and teaming with patriotism, for all her glasses, hangings and ornaments are entirely English’. The Bathurst family remained in residence at Apsley House until 1807 when the 3rd Earl Bathurst sold the lease for £16,000 to Richard, Marquess Wellesley (1760–1842), elder brother to Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), later ennobled as the Duke of Wellington following his military victories in the Peninsular and Napoleonic wars, and who from 1817 was the owner of Apsley House, retaining the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt (1775-1852) to remodel the house in the form that exists today.