Description

John Belchier, a cabinet maker first recorded at ‘The Sun’ near St. Paul’s Churchyard in July 1717, is recorded supplying “All sorts of Cabinet Works” to his clients, but mirrors and bureau bookcases are the documented works that he promoted in his trade advertisements (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, p. 59-60).

From 1720 he supplied furniture to John Meller at Erddig, Clwyd, N. Wales, including a pair of pier mirrors, a mirror-topped table and a State bed with a similar hawks’ head motif. The Erddig mirrors and table were formerly attributed to James Moore, perhaps because mirrors supplied to Hampton Court by John Gumley, his partner, share the motif of a mask with a feathered headdress (see R. Edwards and M. Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, rev. ed., 1955, figs. 16 and 17).