Mirror
Artist
Maker unknown
(English)
Datec. 1815
MediumGlass with gilt wood frame
DimensionsOverall: 57 x 44in. (144.8 x 111.8cm)
ClassificationsFURNISHINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number60.71
DescriptionEnglish gilt mantel mirror, oval with swan's neck sides,and crest of carved eagle; urn of grapesOn 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 TextIn the first decades of the 19th-century, European and American furniture designers favored motifs from ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian design vocabulary. Most of these elements-griffins, eagles, serpents, dolphins, and other animals-derived from classical mythology. Their connotations were understood by the wealthy, educated possessors of this type of high-style furniture with its energetic representations of antiquity. Swans, which mythically pulled the chariot of the love goddess Venus and were also associated with the god Apollo, were a motif favored by the Empress Josephine of France, whose use of the black swan device no doubt popularized the imagery.
ATD
