What is a girandole mirror?

A mirror with candle arms fixed to the frame. Around thirty titles use the word, so it's a small part of the category. Girandoles turn up as singles and as pairs, and paired ones sit well above single equivalents across the range.

Why are convex mirrors often topped with an eagle?

The eagle is the usual surmount on crested convex frames, and it recurs throughout the listings. It isn't the only one. Dolphin, deer and dragon crests each appear, and ho-ho birds crown several frames in the 18th-century taste. Convex frames are a small group overall, one of them quoted at 69 inches.

How big do overmantel mirrors get?

Sizes are stated in the titles rather than left to guesswork. Spreads of 246 by 125cm and 205 by 206cm both appear. At the other end, small oval and hanging wall mirrors give dimensions around 40 by 30cm.

Does a 19th Century label mean a precise date?

No. It's an estimate. Over five hundred listings carry that label and nothing narrower. Where dealers do give a decade, the clusters fall in the 1880s, 1860s and 1870s, with 1900s and 1920s also present. The dated field as a whole runs 1700 to 1960.

Are Italian and French giltwood frames common?

Continental frames are a steady minority. Italian appears in over a hundred titles, Florentine in around seventy-seven, Venetian in a handful. French is the larger group of the two, covering trumeau, Louis Philippe, Empire and sunburst frames. English titles sit between the two counts.

What does parcel gilt mean on a mirror?

Partly gilded. The rest of the frame is left as bare wood, or painted, or ebonised. It's a description of finish, not of date, and it turns up across the forms listed on Sellingantiques.

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Antique Giltwood Mirrors

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A wall mirror in a carved and gilded wooden frame, built over a gesso ground, made when the frame was the display and the glass was the expensive part.