Mirror
Maker
Meriden Britannia Company
(American, active Meriden, Connecticut, 1852 - 1898)
Date1885
MediumSilver and gold plate over Britannia, glass
DimensionsOverall: 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 1 1/2in. (31.8 x 24.1 x 3.8cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, by exchange in part, with funds from Raleigh Castor and Mr. David B. Hazelden
Object number2002.25
On View
Not on viewCollections
Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextThis mirror was not made by a firm that produced art brass, but Meriden Britannia (of which Meriden Silver Plate was a division) did make parallel examples of silver-plated tables. The mirror is an excellent example of how Japanese images found on American metals could be significantly incongruous with their supposed design inspiration. In the early 1880s for eleven dollars and fifty cents, one could purchase this fan-shaped hanging mirror with its bamboo-form handle and a cast Asian figure. Beyond the use of the fan as a motif, the decoration of the mirror is not associated with genuine Japanese imagery. Created to satisfy American consumer demand for Japanese-styled objects, it shows an indiscriminate enthusiasm for Japonisme.
