Toilet mirror
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1780
Materials
Ivory veneer, sandalwood, mirrored glass, silvered brass
Measurements
78 cm (H); 56.5 cm (W); 27 cm (D)
Place of origin
Vizagapatam
Order this imageCollection
Treasurer's House, North Yorkshire
NT 592800.1
Summary
A toilet mirror or dressing glass from an engraved ivory veneered dressing table set, Indian, Vizagapatam, circa 1780. The mirror with an oval plate within a band frame and surmounted by a pierced crest, held by square section supports, the base with three drawers to the breakfront frieze, the centre drawer concave and all with silvered handles, raised on bracket feet. The whole engraved with buildings within landscape settings and floral borders.
Full description
The port of Vizagapatam on the Coromandel Coast in Eastern India was a centre of Anglo Indian furniture and textile manufacture and export in the second half of the 18th Century. The form of this dressing mirror is inspired by English examples of the late 18th century combined with Indian techniques which utilized the available ivory and exotic hardwoods. The large densely foliated frieze patterns, based on indigenous plants, mirror that of the Vizagapatam Chintz fabrics that were popular throughout Europe during this period. (James Weedon, December 2019)
Provenance
Given by Frank Green (1861-1954) along with house, garden and contents to the National Trust in 1930.
References
Jaffer 2001 : Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, London, V&A publications, 2001. Jaffer 2002 : "Luxury goods from India, the art of the Indian cabinet maker", London, V&A publications, 2002.