10651 A large Dutch rococo carved and gilt limewood pier mirror, the cresting with a cluster of pears and flower heads among leaf scrolls, continuing down the sides to a central flower spray. The mirror plate replaced, unrestored condition.
Dutch, Amsterdam
1755-1765
Height; 75.5 ins (192cm)
Width; 30.75 ins (78cm) £2,400
Description
Dutch rococo enjoyed a long period of popularlity throughout the eighteenth century until the influence of the the restrained Louis XVI syle in the 1780s. Unlike the French carvers and cabinet makers who were so influential throughout Europe, very little is known about their Dutch equivalents. In Paris, the strict guild system controlled the training, marketing and quality of the craftsmen and has allowed considerable research into their organisation. Despite the tireless work of Dutch historians, the same cannot be said of the craftsmen in the Netherlands.
As a result, there are few carvers who can be identified accurately, and many of those are based in the great centres of Amsterdam and The Hague. Dirk Langeraat, a mirror dealer with a showroom on the Herengracht, Amsterdam, supplied similar frames to the chateau of Sint Pietershof in Hoorn, to the north of Amsterdam. He and his son also supplied houses in The Hague
