QUAINT OLD MIRRORS

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 28 January 1933, Page 13

QUAINT OLD MIRRORS

BEATTIES. OF BYGONE DAYS

FASCINATION OF ANTIQUES

EARLY VENETIAN MONOPOLY

The beauty which lies in old things is not entirely their shape and col our. Often it is in the mind of tne beholder, whose mental eye ranges over the past as he or she views; then possession. Of such are old _ mirror-*' Who that has gazed in their softly opaque faces has not seen behind them the powdered head and graceful figure of a former owner. 1 love mirrors, writes Dora -uercei; in “The Queen,” although my admira-, tion. far exceeds- niv collect ion. I have: just ten—they always seem to me such personal things; they so enclose the) past, bring it so near to one. Thc ( first looking-glasses were made in Ven-ji ice during, the sixteenth century to- h lier thev did not exist. X iolett-le-Duc states that, until then, there wore only hand mirrors of polished metal, ror , a century Venice held the monopoly ( of looking-glasses. They then began , to be more widely manufactured; a factory was established in England m 1615, ‘hut half a century elasped be- • lore any degree of perfection was achieved.; In 1676 John Evelyn records - a visit to the Duke of Buckingham s - rrlass works at Lambeith, where thev c made “looking-glasses far larger and better than any that came from Un- ] ice.” What should we call them. ] looking-glasses or mirrors? Several o‘ct j inventories called them mirrors, and in the eighteenth century Horace \i ah . pole was deploring the “over-mirrored French houses. On the other hand throughout the furniture directories of Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Shornton 1 find only references to Passes and “pier-glasses. So I fancy that we must enjoy them like the rose which “by any other name . . . ; or course, you know the rest of the quo * What an adventure it must have been to design a frame for the first mirror glass rolled m England! Likattempting to frame light or laughter Dull silver was the favoured medium, and during Stuart times silver-framed mirrors were the “playthings of. nobility ” Very few specimens remain to show us modems how the soft sheen of the metal echoes that of the silvered glass it encloses, so like to n>e arm water Wooden frames were first used about 1675. They were square with straight outline, and exquisitely veneered with picturesque walnut. Lius type of frame was fashionable until the end of the century, frequently being ornamented with an elaborately decorated crest. Early in the reign of Queen Ann* the miror changed its shape. It b<came tall and narrow, with an almost flat rather narrow moulded frame of shaped outline, and having a rather) elaborate pediment. the edge of the frame bordering the bevelled P 1 fhn generally shaped after the style ot the lovely Queen Anne style. ... , In these mirrors the glass is old and in two sections, always a desirable point, especially so if there is a cut design on the upper panel-a little misty and dim, but not at all unsight-, jy the sort of glass that should he ' ■■•. served for its memories and the famous faces it has reflected. Only a ,little yourlger is a not he i gesso mirror with a broken pediment and central finial; this would date from early in the reign of George the First. At this time the fashion was for mirrors to have a tall, oblon,. levelled frame moulded and carved and surmounted with a pediment m the classic manner. Many early Oeorgian frames have a goblet-shaped oi tureen-shaped urn at the top. Eater in the century it was egg-shaped, due straight inner edge of frame tops rs an indication of Georgian origin. Landscape mirrors” belong to the reign or Queen Anne, hut such mirrors were extensively made during the reigns o the first two Georges * nt . e " d ® d J pr use above the mantel-shelf, these mirrors comprised three bevelled plates, the bevels being very wide and very flat The two outer sheets clip the central glass and hol7l.it in position, the join usually being hidden hv a divisional sir ip of decoration 7 arice of Chippendales high aitistiy was the cause of gilt mirrors becoming lighter after 1745. They were richly ond gracefully carved with uncut scrolls, floral and bird decoration, and generally gilt. There was no bevel to tfl Ohmpendale was also responsible for o e mahogany mirrors made after IH>>They generally had fretted edges. The flat' outer frame was narrow at the sides, widening at the top. The inner pdcre of the frame had a "dt fillet Fainting in reverse on. the unoensicle or the frame was a decoration often used Chippendale.