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Two alternative designs for a mirror with mascarons

Maker

(artist)
1672-1742

Title

Date of Production

1720

Medium

red chalk counterproof on laid paper, with brown ink framing lines

Dimensions

Height: 45.3 cm
Width: 28.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3305

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

The drawing proposes alternative treatments of the upper right-hand corner of a mirror frame. An illusion of space is created by the ghost of a cornice that runs across the right top of the drawing and by the darker parallel lines of hatching denoting the mirror in the upper variant, which appear to recede and pass behind the surface of the lower frame. Bolder in shape and simpler in its use of planes, the lower frame moves forward and out of focus, the mascaron seemingly cut away by the edge of the paper. We look in preference beyond it, to a frame decorated with the emblem of Mercury and with the garlands and ribbons of wealth and prosperity. Made around the time that Oppenord was working on the decoration of the Regent Philippe d’Orléans’ gallery at the Palais Royal, it may have been intended for execution or for reproduction in print.

Provenance

Alfred Beurdeley, Paris (1847-1919), L.421; perhaps his sale, Édouard Rahir (Paris), 28 - 29 May 1920; Heinrich Eisemann, Frankfurt am Main and London (1890-1972); purchased from him by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d. (£5, with D.1952.RW.3304 and 3306); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Ornament by Design, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/04/2016-12/06/2016

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 04/07/1991-06/10/1991

Literature

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 36, p. 82
ill. on p. 83

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto: upper centre, a name in a banner, difficult to read: perhaps “JPH CUSSON”? (see Heawood 3291-3293, all Paris mid-18th century, though none is a match to this sheet); Countermark: lower centre: bunch of grapes.

Inscription: Scraps removed from former backing sheet, cut down and now mounted with the drawing: brown ink: “No. 29”; number printed in black ink, letters added in grey ink: “49 / AP”. Scrap from mount, cut down and now in file (though unsure that this was the mount for this drawing): graphite: “P. Or[…] 10 / 100- //”.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Alfred Beurdeley II (L.421). Scrap removed from former backing sheet, cut down and now mounted with the drawing: stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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