Featured Art nouveau brass hand mirror

Another item I'm not sure which section to put it in. Art, Metalware, Glass....? So I'll just put it here.

While googling this mirror tonight, I noticed there are many reproductions of it out there. I know this one is original, because it did have the original glass with the silver flaking off the back, which was also broken unfortunately. It also came from the family farm, which had nothing new. My Dutch ancestors were frugal people.

Anyway, I had an old glass shop fit a new mirror to it many years ago so I could present it to my wife. When I went back to pick up the mirror, he told me he had multiple offers to buy it. I was kind of disappointed in the mirror at the time, as it was much thicker glass than the original. It protruded out the back of the frame, whereas the original was flush, so I glued some felt to the back to protect it and anything it was laid on.

 

Would think this is same maker. They seem to have a metal plate screwed on to the back to protect it:

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/m...s-hand-mirror-circa-1900-france/id-f_1300206/

Face looks crude, but can't see well:

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/m...s-hand-mirror-circa-1900-france/id-f_1300206/

There do seem to be many lookalikes. This one is better quality, less pitted, than one I saw on eBay:

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d...au-hand-mirror-dressing-table-mirror-vgc.html

This has that screwed on metal back, so guess an original feature.

https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/16086157-brass-art-nouveau-jugendstil-hand-mirror

I get the feeling no one really knows anything beyond what they can see. With so many out there, begin to wonder if made in USA.

 

I would be tempted to get a small file and clean up the poor quality casting residue that is everywhere. I'm no expert but I wouldn't say it was an original. More likely a cheap no-name copy based on the quality of the casting. Love the general form though.

 

I think some of that might be dust. lol

I blew some of it off, but it sits on a small stand for months at a time without being touched.

After another look, I see where you are talking about though, at the bottom of the handle.

 

Hmmm.... French examples, yet art nouveau started in England? Early American copies? Who knows...

 

The casting "flash" is in all of the open areas.

 

Looks like one of the copies that flooded the market in the late eighties.

 

I agree, a 1970s-80s Art Nouveau revival item. Not even repro. Many were made, and they are related to the AN revival frames of the same period.

 

When was the farm last occupied?

 

Ok, serious question. Would mirror glass from the 70's - 80's have had the silver flaking off the back like antique mirrors do?

 

Depends on the conditions it was kept in.

My reply was serious, as I am sure popsy's was. We took the trouble to look and reply, based on our experience, the modern face of the woman, and the sloppy workmanship. Take it or leave it, all up to you.

 

I moved onto the farm in 1984 when my great aunt was still alive. She lived in the wood addition (that had been added to the main house which built in 1840) which was where some of the farmhands would stay back when the farm was worked. The main house had been shut off and unused (but still heated) since the time of my great grandparents. It was a virtual museum.

The farm was last worked in the mid 1950's when my great grandfather died from a heart attack. Not too long after that point, my great grandmother and great aunt moved to the addition. My great grandmother died at the age of 100 in 1980. My great aunt lived alone until I moved in with her to keep an eye on things. At that point (1984), the main part of the house was reopened for me to live in. The mirror was there at that time with the mirror glass being in poor condition. I moved out in 1991 and then my brother lived there for a while, with my great aunt passing away in the mid 90's. We sold the farm not too long after.

 

Completely dry, and generally cool.

I do appreciate your responses. I did not mean to imply that your answer was not serious. I only wanted you to consider my question in a different light, based on the information I gave.

 

Wcubed, I think what you have is a "vanity mirror" (at least in days long gone it would be called a "vanity mirror").

Interesting to me is that it depicts (in my opinion) Eve reaching for the "forbidden fruit" -- an apple). The mirror would have been placed on a woman's "vanity"/"dressing table.

 

Am I putting this together correctly that the last time something could have been added to the contents of the house where the mirror was located was in the mid-1950s, found by you c. 1984? So assessments of age similar to this one are not consistent with that chronology?

Before you covered over the back, did you see any holes that would have been for the screws that held on a decorative back as we see on 2 of the others? Wonder if they expected you would have to replace the mirror? Can't see anything made in the 50s or later being constructed this way. If yours has the screw holes, think we are looking at an older piece.



Before I got into other pretty things I collected kaleidoscopes. I can tell you that mirrors can fog & develop spots even in such a protected setting, & it does not take that many years. Condition of mirror may not be a good guide to age of item, particularly if back surface was unprotected.

 

Correct. Therein lies the puzzle, which we may never know the real answer

No, there are no screw holes. Therefore, if the one pictured above is the original version (French, from the turn of the last century?), then anything else is a copy, or reproduction, which means I was incorrect in my first post calling this an original. So the question remains, how many times were copies made, and when? Who would the mirror have belonged to? I would naturally assume that would be either my great aunt, or grandmother, as my great grandparents only had two daughters. My grandmother moved out by the mid 30's as she got married. As previously stated, my great aunt would have still lived that side of the house until the mid 50's. (She was briefly married for a couple days, still lived at the farm, but had the marriage annulled as her husband turned out to be no good, the family didn't talk about it).

This mirror is a perfect example of why you leave old things in original condition! I know better, but in this case, I knew my wife would have thought it junk if I had given it to her in it's original condition. She does not really appreciate antiques like I do. If I still had the original mirror glass, it may have provided more clues.

 

I strongly believe that the French didn't produce anything else till they were finally stopped by the Germans in 1914.

https://www.google.ch/search?q=miro...mAhUKzIUKHbVZAcwQsAR6BAgIEAE&biw=1536&bih=711

 

This seems to me the more interesting question for you, one you may not be able to answer. The two girls may have shared it. Were they close in age? That would be my guess, that it is something they had when they were teenagers, & guessing that was in the 1920s. Not everything had become deco in style.

 

Yes, fairly close in age. My great aunt was the older sibling.

I misspoke when I said my grandmother got married and moved out in the mid 40's. She got married in 1936.

This is a picture of my grandmother when she graduated from college in 1932.