Getty Museum

Mirror frame

Date

about 1780–1785

Medium

Gilded and painted oak

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

The shape of this mirror frame mimics an arch, possibly to follow the design of either the wood paneling, windows, or architecture of the room in which it hung. The gilded oak serves to accentuate the delicate, naturalistic carvings on it. Woodworkers created these lavish frames because they complemented an expensive item: mirror glass. In the 1700s, mirror glass was difficult to produce and transport, which made mirrors costly. To create mirror glass, specialist craftsmen poured molten glass onto a large iron plate. Then, these sheets went by boat to the workshops of the *miroitiers* (mirror makers), who polished them and coated them with mercury. The machinery used to produce mirror glass didn’t allow for large mirrors until the late 1700s, so *miroitiers* would fill large frames with two separate pieces of mirrored glass. The modern mirror glass in this frame imitates this effect.

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