Material: Giltwood

Data: c.1750-60,Mid 18th Century Antiques
The very pretty eighteenth century carved giltwood pier mirror, retaining the original gilded decoration on a shaped moulded frame carved with flowers and vines to a crested surmount, the original rectangular mirror plate divided into two sections, now beautifully foxed, the whole surviving from the third quarter of eighteenth century Italy.

The mirror is in decorative and part distressed condition and is attractive in its originality and the fact it has not been re-gilded or meddled with. The plate is foxed beautifully with a line running down vertically through centre left, the top section showing the lions share of the distress and with a small section of loss. The lower larger plate still proves mainly clear whilst the giltwood as a whole has areas of wear and losses to some areas, and he top section is very slightly loose, which could be restored if, so desired. The plate does have some light scratch marks to it, please refer to the photographs for visual reference. The reverse shows the original three-plank boarded back. There is a later strut brace to the reverse to give it more stability, which is a twentieth century addition. She is ready and able to be hung and admired.

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the development of decorative mirrors in Italy. The cylinder process, where cylinders of glass were blown then split open and laid flat, had some limitations meaning that only small plates could be made, so several pieces of glass would be used to create a single mirror.

A sublimely beautiful pier glass, and truly, a conduit to eighteenth century Italy.