By the middle of the nineteenth century, the French taste, a revival of the Rococo variously called Louis XIV French Modern, or French Antique, predominated in the fashionable American parlor. An important element of the style was the use of two types of large, gilt framed mirrors that were elaborately carved with leafage and scrolled ornament. A. J. Downing documented their role and placement: “Nothing so much adds to the splendor and gayety of an apartment as mirrors…we think one or two large ones are indispensible in the drawing-room of a first-rate villa. The two most effective positions for mirrors are as chimney mantel-glasses and pier-glasses.” A Galveston, Texas, newspaper advertisement of 1855 describes “Fashionable Parlor Furniture” and lists rich sets of seating furniture as well as “Large gilt Pier and Mantle Mirrors, Rich gilt curtain cornices.” The advertisement suggests the widespread acceptance of the style, particularly in prosperous areas of the pre-Civil War South. There are indications that these mirrors (called at the time mantel mirrors, rather than the incorrect term “over-mantel mirror” in use today) were produced by shops that made them a specialty, and undoubtedly the influx, after 1848, of talented carvers from Germany and France provided the craftsmen. The plate glass, however, may have been imported.

The Bayou Bend mirror exhibits an unusual horizontal oval glass element, rather than the more common arched form. The scrolled elements at the outer bottom relate to the treatment often used at the juncture of the upper and lower sections of the contemporary étagère. Stylistically, this example, with its symmetrical leaf or feather crest and symmetrical scrolled ornament, together with the bosses on the oval frame, displays more in common with Renaissance Revival than Rococo Revival features. Given the quantity of high-quality, elaborately carved Rococo Revival furniture from New York and the paucity of such furniture from other centers, it is tempting to assign this mirror to New York City. However, evidence of equally high-quality mirrors from Philadelphia and Albany precludes such an attribution. '

Technical notes: Eastern white pine, gesso, gold leaf, bronze paint, glass. The mirror is made with both carved and applied ornament. The gilding, both water- and oil-based, is applied directly over the gesso and is burnished in some areas. A thin bronze paint wash on the background adds a further contrast of colors.

Related examples: An identical example is at MMA (Davidson and Stillinger 1985, p. 83); one with round, beveled glass is at Winterthur (Fennimore et al. 1994, p. 75); another at the Brooklyn Museum, supplied in 1856 by James Barton of Albany to Robert Milligan, has a much more elaborate and intricately carved upper section (Otto 1965, p. 123). A similar Renaissance-style boss ornament appears on an 1859 New York silver presentation pitcher (Warren, Howe, and Brown 1987, p. 126) and on a New York étagère made by Jules Dessoir between 1855 and 1860 (Tracy et al. 1970, no. 148), suggesting a date of manufacture close to 1860.

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.