Antique Picture Frames And Mirrors - Part 1

( Originally Published 1963 )

In these of picture windows and glass walls, as well as mirrors that can be cut in any size or shape homeowners desire, it is hard to realize how highly prized a framed looking glass was 250 years ago. Although it hung on the wall, it was fully as important as the gateleg table and the wing chair. Not every household could boast of owning a mirror, for glass backed with metal so that it would reflect images was scarce and costly.

Unlike window glass, which was a product of the first glass factories in America, mirror glass was imported until almost 1800. As a matter of fact, England herself had imported it from Venice until 1673, when a glassworks was established at Vauxhall Hear London. This became a source of mirror glass for England and America for a good many years.

Framed mirrors too-or looking glasses, as they were usually called in America-were imported through the 1700's. The specific term "looking glass" was in general use here until at least 1800. In earlier centuries and other countries, mirrors had not been made of glass but were any polished surface, such as ivory or metal, that reflected.

During the early 1700's, silvered or mirror glass was imported, too, so that framing could be done by workmen in this country. But framed mirrors continued to be imported, for the eighteenth century brought an increasing demand for them in this country as well as in Europe and England.

Many a housewife in Philadelphia, during the years when it was the first capital of the United States, must have made her husband's life miserable until he commissioned a local cabinetmaker to copy for her the latest style mirror of Mr. George Hepplewhite, recently sent over from England. And many another housewife, after she was fairly well settled in Ohio or Kentucky, must have nagged until a carpenter was permitted to make a frame for her precious bit of looking glass.

To a greater extent than any other accessory, mirrors kept pace with the changes of style in important pieces of furniture. The woods fashionable for chairs and tables were used to make frames for mirrors, and decorative motifs and finishes also were repeated. The several distinct styles of frames that became established during the 1700's and early 1800's are all easy to recognize, in antiques or present-day reproductions, because their characteristics are so different.

Mirror glass was made in small sheets, even in England, through the 1700's. "Thus, the looking glass itself was small and the frame important. When scrollwork or other trim was added to the top of the frame, as it often was, this part was called a crest. Similar decoration along the bottom of the frame became known as the skirt.

In America, the shape of the looking glass and the type of frame around it followed the style current in England and Europe. However strong the influence of English designers on American craftsmen, they managed to produce mirrors with a distinctly American look. This became more pronounced toward the end of the eighteenth century, when the elaborately decorated crest often displayed a gilded or painted eagle instead of the phoenix favored in England. When medallions became a fashionable ornament, George and Martha Washington were likely to be represented in them here. A good many of the frames that were made in this country after about 1740 were as elegant as any that were turned out in Chippendale's own workshop in England.

During the William and Mary period (1688-1702), mirrors made in England and hung in homes there and in America were comparatively small, square or rectangular pieces of glass with beveled edges held in a wide frame of walnut or pine that was carved or inlaid. During this period, some mirror frames had a high, arched crest that was carved or had a design inlaid in lighter-colored wood. Early mirrors of this style are rare and seldom seen except in museums or restorations. Furthermore, they are unfamiliar because they are not reproduced.

As the more comfortable Queen Anne furniture began to take over after 1702 in England and about 1725 in America, some cabinetmaker hit on the idea of using two panels of glass together to make a more imposing mirror. The two-panel mirror continued to be popular in this country until about 1840. It became extremely American in character.

As it was made in this country, the Queen Anne style mirror had no strip of wood to conceal the line where the two pieces of beveled glass met. Perhaps because these mirrors were larger, frames were narrower. They usually were arched at the top, with each side showing the simple cyma or S-curve. Some frames had a crest four inches or more high, which generally had a scrolled edge and frequently an ornament carved in relief or, if it was a shell, incised and gilded. Some of the finest ones made in either New England or Philadelphia eventually came to have, along the sides, ornaments carved from wood and gilded. The inside edge of the molding nearest the glass also was often gilded.

Throughout the 1700's, the majority of the mirrors made in this country were rectangular. Only rarely was an oval looking glass framed to hang on the wall, and when it was, the frame followed the style of the rectangular ones. This became the century of the fretwork frame. It began with a minimum amount of scrolling on the crest of the Queen Anne mirror. It increased under the influence of Chippendale, with fretwork on the top and bottom of the mirror and sometimes along the sides, too. Later mirrors had a crest with a broken pediment, a fretwork apron, and carved ornaments along the sides. Top ornaments, carving, and gilding were common.

Fretwork mirrors varied in size, the intricacy of the scrollwork surrounding the frames, and the decoration. Some were quite small, with glass no larger than 8 by 13 inches. The frame itself was solid wood, but the scrollwork usually was veneer. Many fretwork mirrors were undecorated and depended on the wood for their beauty.

After 1740, the scrollwork and the broken pediment of the crest were likely to be emphasized with gold leaf. Then, too, carved garlands or other side ornaments also were covered with gold leaf. Any decoration on the crest or any top ornament also was covered with gold leaf. The phoenix was popular as a top ornament until it was superseded by the eagle in the 1790's. The three feathers of the Prince of Wales were used as an ornament on the crest of fretwork mirrors made in this country as well as in England, and this motif too was covered with gold leaf.

One style of Chippendale frame is generally called a "Constitution" mirror. (A similar style also was made in England.) It was popular by 1750 here, which was a long time before the Colonies had adopted a constitution and become the United States. This rectangular mirror had a frame with a broken pediment crest surmounted by a phoenix or an eagle. Moldings beneath the pediment were sometimes carved and were always gilded, as were the cyma curves of the pediment and the bird. Not all Constitution mirrors had gilded side ornaments, but they all had an apron that was either scrolled or outrounded. The mirror glass-in one piece-also was accented with a narrow gilded molding.

When Hepplewhite and Sheraton furniture began to displace Chippendale's styles in England, mirrors as well as furniture in this country reflected the changes too. It is interesting that both Chippendale and Hepplewhite mirrors usually held only one piece of glass, whereas the Sheraton styles in this country were based on two panels. There was considerable variation in the height of- the rectangular mirrors. framed in the fretwork and Constitution styles derived from Chippendale and the frames with typical Hepplewhite ornament. Some were only 13 to 18 inches high; others were 45 inches or more.

Hepplewhite mirrors displayed less fretwork but were usually elaborately decorated; many had scrolled or fretwork aprons. One distinctive characteristic was the carved draperies, garlands, or sprays of foliage and flowers that hung partway down on either side. The crest was almost invariably a broken pediment surmounted by an urn that held graceful flowers and foliage on wirework stems, or occasionallv sheaves of wheat. The side ornaments, the urn, and its contents always were gilded. With its delicate details, a mirror framed in the style of Hepplewhite was something to be proud of.

Few Hepplewhite mirrors had two panels of glass like the Sheraton style of mirrors that became general around 1800. Those that did, usually had painted decoration on the small upper panel. However, a Hepplewhite mirror of this sort can be distinguished readily from a Sheraton mirror because of the details of the frame. The Sheraton styles on the whole were simpler than the Hepplewhite, although those with Sheraton influence often were completely gilded.

Mirrors consisting of two panels of glass must have been extremely popular between 1800 and 1840-otherwise, so many of them would not be around still. The lower piece, more than twice as long as the upper one, was looking glass. The smaller panel (it gradually displaced the elaborate scrolled crest as ornament) was painted-or, later, stenciled-with a landscape, a seascape featuring a sailing vessel, a vase of flowers or a basket of fruit, or an eagle with garlands or medallions. These subjects, which seem to have been about equal in popularity, were done in colors or in gold leaf and black. The more stylized painting of an eagle was sometimes done against a white background. The Constitution, a ship that gained fame in the War of 1812, was a popular theme for a good many years. Other mirrors displayed a painted seascape with a vessel that could not possibly be the Constitution. Although painted landscapes were usually attractive, there were many that could be classed only as folk art.