Why are triptych mirrors spelled so many ways?

Across the titles the word appears four ways: triptych, tryptic, trio and "3 panel". Dealers write it as they know it. The hanging form doubles the problem, split almost evenly between overmantel and overmantle. No single search term reaches the whole category.

How many come up for sale?

Around eight a year come to market on Sellingantiques, so it is not a form you meet in quantity. Yet 54 different dealers have listed one. It is a mirror almost every dealer handles occasionally and almost none stocks in depth.

Which form is more common, folding or hanging?

They share the category almost equally. Twenty-four of 95 titles say "dressing" and 13 say "dressing table", making the folding mirror the commonest single object. The hanging three-compartment overmantel matches it in numbers, with 33 titles between the overmantel and overmantle spellings.

What woods and finishes turn up?

Mahogany appears in 11 titles and walnut in nine, mostly on the folding dressing mirrors. Gilt and giltwood account for a further batch, concentrated on the hanging form. A persistent minority sits outside both. Brass, silver, japanned and chinoiserie decoration, ebonised-and-gilt Art Deco, white painted gilt, and one frame covered in damask fabric.

Are these mirrors mostly Regency?

Regency is the busiest period label, in 19 titles and 11 entries in the dated field, and it travels with the giltwood overmantels. The clean-year dates tell a different story. They lean early twentieth century, with the 1920s the best-represented decade, and sample titles push back to a "circa 1850" and a "c. 1830".

What does cheval mean on a triptych mirror?

A cheval mirror stands on its own floor frame rather than on a table or a wall. Three sampled titles combine cheval with triptych, so the three-panel arrangement occasionally arrives at floor height instead.

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Antique Triptych Mirrors

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A triptych mirror is a three-panelled mirror, a central plate with two flanking plates, made either to fold on a dressing table or to hang across the wide space above a fireplace.