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Mirror in three sections in a narrow frame, English, unknown maker, c.1780s
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Mirror in three sections, XF47, English, unknown maker, c.1780s, gilt wood and mirror glass, in a narrow frame, shown in situ, ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photograph: Gareth Gardner
Mirror in three sections in a narrow frame, English, unknown maker, c.1780s
circa 1780-89
Gilt wood and mirror glass
Height: 103cm
Width (overall): 130.5cm
Width (central section): 68cm
Width (side section): 26.5cm
Width (frame): 3cm
Depth: 4cm
Width (overall): 130.5cm
Width (central section): 68cm
Width (side section): 26.5cm
Width (frame): 3cm
Depth: 4cm
Museum number: XF47
On display: Model Room (pre-booked tours only)
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
This mirror hung above the fireplace in the Breakfast Room in No. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1798 where it is shown in a watercolour by J.M. Gandy (14/6/1). A ground floor design plan for No. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 1792, showing the proposed layout of furniture, has an inscription beside the position this mirror occupied in the final arrangement: Over this ch[imne]y the glass / now in the Library in / Scotland Yard.1
When Soane moved into No. 13 it was installed on the second floor and is probably the ‘Frame with 3 pieces of Looking Glass fixed on centre pier, South Side’ in the Model Room listed in the Furniture and Fittings inventory (1837). A design for an overmantel for this room proposed by the then Curator James Wild drawn in c.1890-92, in the RIBA Drawings Collection, seems to incorporate this mirror2 and photographs of his overmantel as executed show it in the centre.
It is just possible that this mirror had an earlier history of being incorporated into others and is the inner part of the one shown in Soane’s Bath Room on the 2nd floor in 1825 (ten years before the Model Room was created).
Summerson’s Repairs Ledger for 1960 records ‘Triple mirror repaired £8.15.0 (Arnold Wiggins) and fixed over fire-place in 2nd floor back room’. It was moved again with the Museum's re-occupation of No. 12 in 1969 when John Summerson restored the Breakfast Room and re-hung this mirror above the fireplace.
In 2015 it was reinstated in its position above the model stand XF35 on the south wall in the recreated Model Room as part of Phase 2 of Opening up the Soane. It has been replaced by a replica in the No. 12 Breakfast Room.
1 SM Drawing 32/2A/7. Soane rented an office in Scotland Yard before he moved to No. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
2 RIBA Drawings Collection, PB1410/26(3). The drawing is inscribed existing glass and frame indicating that the tripartite mirror is already present.
When Soane moved into No. 13 it was installed on the second floor and is probably the ‘Frame with 3 pieces of Looking Glass fixed on centre pier, South Side’ in the Model Room listed in the Furniture and Fittings inventory (1837). A design for an overmantel for this room proposed by the then Curator James Wild drawn in c.1890-92, in the RIBA Drawings Collection, seems to incorporate this mirror2 and photographs of his overmantel as executed show it in the centre.
It is just possible that this mirror had an earlier history of being incorporated into others and is the inner part of the one shown in Soane’s Bath Room on the 2nd floor in 1825 (ten years before the Model Room was created).
Summerson’s Repairs Ledger for 1960 records ‘Triple mirror repaired £8.15.0 (Arnold Wiggins) and fixed over fire-place in 2nd floor back room’. It was moved again with the Museum's re-occupation of No. 12 in 1969 when John Summerson restored the Breakfast Room and re-hung this mirror above the fireplace.
In 2015 it was reinstated in its position above the model stand XF35 on the south wall in the recreated Model Room as part of Phase 2 of Opening up the Soane. It has been replaced by a replica in the No. 12 Breakfast Room.
1 SM Drawing 32/2A/7. Soane rented an office in Scotland Yard before he moved to No. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
2 RIBA Drawings Collection, PB1410/26(3). The drawing is inscribed existing glass and frame indicating that the tripartite mirror is already present.
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk