POSSIBLY DESIGNED BY MATTHIAS LOCK, CIRCA 1750

This intricately carved bracket is similar to examples by the masterful designer and specialist carver Matthias Lock (1710-1765). Lock was the first to publish carvers' ornament in the new French rococo taste in pattern books such as Six Sconces (1744), Six Tables (1746), and A Book of Ornaments (1747). He was greatly admired by his contemporaries who at the time of his death described him as 'the best Draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. The bearded mask on this bracket relates to those seen on a distinctive group of mirrors attributed to Lock, such as a pair from the Van Cliburn Collection, sold Christie's, New York, 16 May 2012, lot 114 ($464,500 including premium).