Federal Parcel-Gilt and Mahogany Looking Glass

Object Details

Related Objects

George II Parcel-Gilt and Mahogany Looking Glass

Unknown
ca. 1740-1750

wood; sylvestris pine; spruce; mahogany veneer; gilt gesso

George II Mahogany and Parcel-Gilt Pier Mirror

Unknown
ca. 1740-1770

wood; mahogany veneer; gesso gilt; sylvestris pine; eastern white pine; spruce

Object Essay

Federal-period looking glasses of this particular design constitute a distinctly American idiom within the large field of neoclassical looking glasses. Their form bespeaks the inherent conservatism often found in American furniture of the period and also reflects its graceful proportions and simplified decoration. The rectangular shape, framed by floral pendants and topped by a high-arched broken scroll pediment in parcel gilt, continues the format of early Georgian pier glasses (see Acc. Nos. 81.60 and 64.51). The base expands into the organic scrolls and curves of the rococo style. But the overall attenuated proportions, delicate small-scale carving, oval inlay, here with the eagle from the American seal adopted in 1782, and inlaid stringing, all denote the neoclassical style.

This is one of a group of several dozen looking glasses that very closely resemble one another.^{1_{See Montgomery 1966, nos. 214–16, for three versions of this type of looking glass.}} The distinguishing features of the Collection’s example are the gilded and fluted urn finial mounted on a high base and supporting a bouquet of simplified five-petal flowers and single wheat stalks with a swag of flowers and small pointed leaves. The stringing below the gilded cornice creates a stylized frieze that ends in exaggerated cyma curves. A gilded ogee molding, decorated with a serpentine line and stylized leaf shapes, surrounds the mirrored glass. Among the individual looking glasses of this type, variations are found in the shape of the pediment and frieze, the outline of the rococo base, the type of inlay design, the inclusion of eglomisé panels, and the arrangement and design of the rosettes, flowers, and leaf forms, as well as different shapes for the urn. The inlaid oval of the American eagle centered beneath the urn on the pediment makes the Collection’s looking glass extraordinary.

Many looking glasses of this type descended in families from New York City or the Hudson River Valley. An example in the Van Cortlandt manor house has a stenciled label, “from Del Vecchio Looking Glass & Picture Frame Manufacturers, New York.”^{2_{Butler 1983, no. 98.}} Members of the Del Vecchio family are listed in Albany between l803 and 1804, and in New York City from 1800.^{3_{Ring, 1182.}} There were two generations, advertised as carvers and gilders, who also made and repaired looking glasses and picture frames. The exact role of the Del Vecchio family as makers or retailers in relation to these looking glasses is so far unknown. Also, the Van Cortlandt label may record a later repair. Further evidence is needed before a definitive attribution can be made, but there is a possibility that the Del Vecchio firm was responsible for this American version of the neoclassical looking glass.

Gilbert T. Vincent and Joseph T. Butler

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.