What period are most French mirrors on the market?

The weight is mid- to late-Victorian France. Of the listings carrying a clean year, 2,476 fall in the four decades from 1850 to 1889, with the 1860s alone accounting for 862. The dated field runs from 1700 to 1960, but the single largest entry is the broad "19th Century", used 1,105 times. A stated century isn't the same as a dated attribution. Eighteenth-century frames do turn up, but they're a handful against that mid-Victorian bulk.

Are these mirrors ever signed or attributed to a maker?

No. A scan of every listing in the category, 4,574 of them, returned no maker's name at all. These frames come to market anonymous. They're described by material, shape and finish, which is why titles lean so hard on carved wood, gesso, gilt and painted.

What does gilt or painted mean for the frame?

Both are finishes over the carved wood and gesso, and between them they account for the greater part of the titles. Silvered frames, using silver leaf rather than gold, make up a smaller group. Distressed shows up in 292 titles, meaning a worn or rubbed-back painted or gilded surface. Original gilt and original paint recur through the upper end of the range.

How big do French overmantel mirrors get?

Large sits in 1,937 titles, and the top of the range quotes heights of 150cm, 153cm, 169cm, 170cm, 188cm and 218cm. One giltwood overmantel is given as 79 inches tall. At the other end there are small dressing and table mirrors. The category covers the whole span.

Which French styles are named in these listings?

Louis Philippe leads the named-reign group, with Louis in 543 titles and Philippe in 400. Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, Napoleon III, Restauration, Directoire and Rococo all appear across the samples. Together the named-reign frames make up roughly one in ten. The rest are described by construction and shape rather than by style.

How many French mirrors are listed each year?

Around 390 a year, and 248 different dealers have handled them. That makes it one of the broadest-based categories on Sellingantiques rather than the ground of a few specialists.

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Antique French Mirrors

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A French wall or overmantel mirror: a carved wood and gesso frame, gilded or painted, made to hang above a chimneypiece, fill a pier between windows, or lean against a wall.