Charles del Vecchio was a member of a large and prolific family of craftsmen working in the New York City cabinet trade in the early nineteenth century. This little, late pillar frame looking glass is typical of New York City’s large output. Del Vecchio’s label (see Technical notes) is indicative of the geographic spread of the market, although whether this mirror was intended for export to the West Indies or South America is not clear.

Technical notes: Mahogany (sight edge, frieze, moldings across frieze, right side of top molding), cherry (bottom rail, right stile); eastern white pine (backboard, top cross rail on back behind top molding), soft maple (raised edge of right corner block), brass, mirror glass. The lower left corner block is replaced. Label on backboard; “C. DEL VECCHIO, / Fabricante De Espejos Y Marcos / TODA CLASE DE PINTURAS / En Su Fabrica No. 44 Calle De Chatham / NUEVA YORK. / Donde tiene constantemente entre manos un suendo j[  ]neral de Espejos, inclusos los de Sala, / de sobre mesa como de colgar y tambien de / cuerpo-entero para adonarse, fabricados con / forme los recientes modelas de mas moda. / Marcos para Retraios, y de todas descripciones, los hace a la orden. / Azoga nuevamente las Lunas de los Espejos / viejos, y redora los marcos. Todo empaquetado / en el mejor orden para las navagaciones y los / viajes a precios equitativos. / C. DEL VECCHIO habla las lenguas Espanola, Francesa, Inglesa, [  ] Italiana.” [C. DEL VECCHIO, manufacturer of looking glasses and frames. Every kind of paintings in his factory No. 44 Chatham Street, New York, where he constantly possesses a wide variety of looking glasses, including those for drawing rooms, for tabletops, and also for hanging, as well as full length for dressing, all made according to the latest fashion. Frames for portraits, of every description, can be made to order. Replate old looking glasses and refurbish gold leaf on frames. Everything packed for overseas travel at competitive prices, c. del vecchio speaks the Spanish, French, English, and Italian languages.]

Related examples: Van Cott 1989, pp. 221–34.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.