Another of the same period, with a carved wood frame, is shown at the
beginning of Chapter IV. This frame has a classical design of garlands
of laurel with an urn at the top. The small oval medallion at the base
of both of these frames seems to be a feature of such looking-glasses,
together with the garlands of carved wood. This looking-glass is owned
by the writer. Upon its back is an oak board which must have been
prized highly, for it has been carefully repaired with two patches of
wood set into it.
Illustration 369 shows a looking-glass made in the first half of the
eighteenth century, of walnut. The gilt mouldings are carved in wood,
as are the gilt leaves and flowers at the side. The waving line of
the inside of the frame is followed in the bevelling of the glass.
Glasses of this period were usually made in two pieces, to lessen the
expense, the edge of one piece of glass being simply lapped over the
other. This looking-glass is unusually large, seven and one-half feet
high and three feet wide. It is now owned by the Philadelphia Library
Association, and was used in 1778 at the famous Mischianza fête, where
probably the lovely Peggy Shippen and the beautiful Jewess, Rebecca
Frank, and perhaps the ill-fated André, used the glass to put the
finishing touches to their toilettes, or to repair the damages wrought
during the gay dances of that historic ball.
A looking-glass showing the development from the one in Illustration
369 may be seen in Illustration 26 upon page 39. The frame is more
elaborate than the older one in its curves and in the pediment with the
broken arch, and its date is about 1770. The original glass is gone, so
we cannot tell if it was bevelled, but it probably was. This very fine
frame came from the Chase mansion in Annapolis, and is now owned by
Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq., of Millbrook, New York.
[Illustration: Illus. 370.—Looking-glass, 1770-1780.]
Another looking-glass owned by Mr. Flagler is shown in Illustration
370. The frame is of walnut veneer, and the shape of the glass without
any curves at the top, and the garlands at the side more finely
modelled and strung upon a wire, determine it to have been made some
years later than the frame in Illustration 369.
A looking-glass with a mahogany and gilt frame, owned by the writer, is
shown in the heading to Chapter IX. This looking-glass dates between
the last two described; the curved form of the upper edge of the glass
in Illustration 26 leaving a slight reminder in the cut-off, upper
corners of this glass, which vanishes in the square corners of the one
in Illustration 370. The garlands at each side are carved from wood,
without wire. These looking-glasses are now reproduced in large numbers
and are sometimes called Washington glasses, from the fact that one
hangs upon the wall in a room at Mount Vernon.
A very unusual looking-glass is shown in Illustration 371, a long
mantel looking-glass of very early date, probably not later than 1750.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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