What is a toilet mirror?

A small swing mirror on a box base made to stand on a table top, commonly with one to three drawers below. Dressing mirror means the same thing, and the two words are used interchangeably in these listings. It is the commonest single object in the category. Mahogany examples run through the archive, with serpentine, bow-front and shield-shaped plates all named in titles.

Why are so many dated only "Georgian"?

The date field is often a style label rather than a year. Only 217 of 1,076 listings carry a clean year, and 300 say simply "Georgian". Where clean years do appear they run from 1700 to 1930. That is a 230-year spread inside a category named for one dynasty, and the later end is where the revival pieces sit.

Which woods turn up in the frames?

Mahogany above all, in 339 of the titles, then walnut. Both are used for the fret-cut wall frames and for the drawer bases of dressing mirrors. Rarer timbers surface once in a blue moon. Satinwood, harewood, birds-eye maple, pollard oak, yew, olive wood and laburnum each appear only once or twice across the whole archive, and they sit higher in the range.

Are Georgian Revival copies sold in this category?

Yes, and titles usually say so, reading "Georgian style" or "Georgian Revival". Dealer dates for these cluster in the 1880s, 1900s and 1920s. They are a visible minority of the listings and sit through the lower and middle bands rather than the top.

How common are convex mirrors?

Convex appears in 67 titles, a small branch of the category. Sampled examples include eagle-mounted frames, girandoles carrying candle arms and versions with an ebonised slip, and they are mostly labelled Regency. The largest stated in a title reaches 69 inches.

How many come up for sale?

Around 112 Georgian mirrors are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, and 243 different dealers have handled one. That makes it a category almost every general furniture dealer touches at some point, which is part of why the descriptions vary so much in what they name. Non-English pieces are the real exception: Italian, French, Venetian, Swedish, Dutch, Anglo-Indian and Chinese reverse-painted examples appear as isolated pieces, against 56 titles that say English.

Home > Mirrors > Georgian Mirrors > Page 19

Georgian Mirrors

613 items · page 19 of 39

← Page 19 of 39 →

Wall and dressing mirrors in the Georgian taste, from small fret-cut mahogany frames and swing dressing glasses on drawer boxes up to carved giltwood pier and overmantel mirrors made for fixed positions in a room.