mirror

mirror , 1700s

Where object was made: England, United Kingdom

Material/technique: wood; glass; gilding

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width (Height x Width): 177.8 x 94 cm
Object Height/Width (Height x Width): 70 x 37 in

Credit line: Bequest of Helen Foresman Spencer

Accession number: 1982.0161

Not on display

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Label texts

Empire of Things

European fascination with objects from China eventually inspired Europeans to manufacture objects in an imagined Chinese manner. These flirtations with Chinese design coincided with a French ornamental style derived from the shell-like forms in the grottos at Versailles (rocaille, in French). When these two styles merged, the imagined Chinese manner and the rocaille-like forms that gave “rococo” its name, resulted in a hybrid style dubbed Chinoiserie in French (we might say “Chinese-esque”).
The frame for this mirror is an English expression of the Chinoiserie idiom. The decorative elements resemble a garden trellis supporting plants and plant motifs that culminate in a little pavilion within which a meditative Chinese peasant sits cross-legged like a guardian of an imagined “Orient” that would have framed a reflected European face.

Empire of Things

Exhibition Label:
"Empire of Things," 2013, Kate Meyer
European fascination with objects from China eventually inspired Europeans to manufacture objects in an imagined Chinese manner. These flirtations with Chinese design coincided with a French ornamental idiom derived from the shell-like forms in the grottos at Versailles (rocaille, in French). When these two tributaries merged, the imagined Chinese manner and the rocaille-like forms that gave “rococo” its name, the resulting hybrid style was dubbed Chinoiserie in French (we might say “Chinese-esque”). The frame for this mirror is an English expression of the Chinoiserie idiom. The decorative elements resemble a garden trellis supporting plants and plant motifs that culminate in a little pavilion within which a meditative Chinese peasant sits cross-legged like a guardian of an imagined “Orient” that would have framed a reflected European face.