Object Description
This is a beautiful antique George III mahogany parcel gilt wall mirror, circa 1780 in date.
The mirror has got a beautiful mahogany frame with carved scrolling surmounted by a pierced gilt foliate motif with bevelled plate below.
It is a beautiful mirror which would look good wherever placed.
Condition:
In excellent condition.
The glass of the mirror shows signs of age, which add to the character, the frame is in excellent condition.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 94 cm x Width 51 cm x Depth 3 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 3 feet, 1 inch x Width 1 foot, 8 inches x Depth 1 inch
Mirrors
are commonly used for personal grooming or admiring oneself (in which case the archaic term looking-glass is sometimes still used), decoration, and architecture.
The earliest manufactured mirrors were pieces of polished stone such as obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass. In classical antiquity, mirrors were made of solid metal (bronze, later silver) and were too expensive for widespread use by common people; they were also prone to corrosion. Due to the low reflectivity of polished metal, these mirrors also gave a darker image than modern ones, making them unsuitable for indoor use with the artificial lighting of the time.
The method of making mirrors out of plate glass was invented by 16th-century Venetian glassmakers on the island of Murano, who covered the back of the glass with mercury, obtaining near-perfect and undistorted reflection. For over one hundred years, Venetian mirrors installed in richly decorated frames served as luxury decorations for palaces throughout Europe, but the secret of the mercury process eventually arrived in London and Paris during the 17th century, due to industrial espionage. French workshops succeeded in large scale industrialization of the process, eventually making mirrors affordable to the masses.
Our reference: 04572