The great age of papier mache is English of the Georgian and Victorian periods, but the origins of this unusual craft are a thousand years old. One early Chinese use of papier mache was as a material for war helmets, which were then toughened with lacquer Another example was the recent discovery of some red lacquered pot lids attributed to the Han Dynasty circa 206 a.d.
The term papier mache, which is composed of French words, appears not to be of French origin. The phrase was probably used by the French emigre workers in the London papier-mache shops of the eighteenth century At that time, the pulp was descriptively and colorfully referred to in English as chewed paper. The French words for the verb to chew is matcher, and, of course, papier is paper
The paper industry did not flourish in England until the end of the seventeenth century The manufacture of papier mache began shortly afterwards, early in the eighteenth century, as paper products began to be used more widely. Paper pulp consisted of mashed paper mixed with a binder of glue and gum arabic. Sometimes flour, sawdust or plaster was added, depending on the purpose for which the pulp was to be used. This prepared pulp was molded into articles like inkstands, card trays, bread baskets and other small items. The hand-turned molds were made of wood with a hole in the center through which the excess water and paste drained away. Some molds had intaglio designs cut into them for obtaining raised figures on the surface of the object. As more sophisticated techniques of pressing, molding and shaping were developed, more intricate and complex products appeared.
One of the most innovative uses for papier mache was for wall and ceiling moldings. In 1778 a Frenchman, in admiration of this English style and its practicality, wrote: "The English cast in cardboard the ceiling ornaments that we make in plaster They are more durable, break off with difficulty, or if they do break off, the danger is of no account and the repair less expensive"
At Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill, a bedroom ceiling had star and quatrefoil compartments with roses at the intersections, all made of papier mache. In Alscot Park in Warwickshire, a fireplace was ornamented with flower festoons in burnished gold. Even the House of Lords, when it was rebuilt after the fire of 1834, had ceiling cornices and wall moldings of papier mache.
Most of the papier mache, however, was used for furniture and accessories, and these were ornamented with lacquer, gold, paint in various colors and mother-of-pearl. Chairs and tables, small in size but sturdily constructed, were popular The sewing table in the accompanying photograph is a fine example. Dated 1850, it is stenciled in gold with inlaid mother-of-pearl and chinoiserie painting. Elaborate bedroom suites were created and decorated with colorful floral panels and gilt edging. Trays were made in all sizes and shapes, and their decoration ran the gamut. Also in demand were small chests, tea caddies, albums and lap desks. Freestanding screens and wall panels were practical adjuncts to the earlier ceiling and wall moldings. Most of them were decorated in the Chinese style. Oriental figures and landscapes were drawn with metal leaf, paint or imitation tortoise shell. Then the faces and hands were made of a mixture of whiting and varnish that was laid onto the drawn figures and molded with small sticks or modeling tools. When dry they were painted pink or white, and the features were drawn in. This made for an interesting three-dimensional quality
The Italians probably learned to make papier mache from the Orient via the Venetian trade, and from there the art spread to Persia and India. There were excellent craftsmen in Germany who produced tobacco and snuff boxes as well as molded toys and doll heads. In Russia, lacquering on papier mache was first done by peasant craftsmen who created a distinctive kind of folk art. And in America, where English style has always been valued, papier mache has been sought after since Washington used it in his Mount Vernon home.
The popularity of papier mache in furniture and accessories, is not surprising. It is highly decorative and fits perfectly into the English country style so many designers favor. I have used a papier mache a small chest as an end table and a tray made into a coffee table. It furnished just the right touch of whimsey to a formal sitting room with colorful floral panels and gilt edging.
There are several places in New York to find papier mache, One good source is Kentshire Galleries on East 12th Street, where we found the illustrated sewing table. Another is Garvin Mecking, around the corner on 11 th Street. I have bought small but choice pieces of papier mache(I remember best a perpetual calendar) from Vito Giallo on Madison Avenue. And for exquisite papier mache mantel and wall clocks, try Fanelli's Antique Timepieces on Madison Avenue.
The use of ornamental borders to surround and enhance a picture dates back to antiquity The earliest frames were really suggestions of edges-a bas-relief, mosaic or fresco outlined with a margin of the same material in a contrasting color or an ornamental figure in a linear design. Walls and ceilings were natural frames for most paintings, just as niches for sculpture were part of architectural plans.
The need for frames did not arise until painting evolved as a portable art in the Middle Ages. These early works were made of wood, and the first frames were probably necessary to reinforce the wooden panels and keep them from warping. The borders for these pictures were made by the artist, who considered the frame an extension of the painting itself. The arched and vaulted outer edges of the frames reflected the Gothic architecture for which they were created, and the rich ornate gold decoration was full of religious symbolism that underlined the ecclesiastical paintings.
As the demand for portable paintings increased, painters confined themselves to painting, and the need for fine frames launched a new craft. Artisans evolved into artists, and picture frames grew more significant. Frames played an increasingly important role as reflections of architectural style and interior decoration. By the 15th century subjects for paintings began to move away from the purely devout. Frames became less elaborate and more specific to the nature of the painting.
The Renaissance brought to frames, as it did to many other art forms, a new dimension of excitement and creativity. Italian Renaissanceframes, often works of art in their own right, mirrored the exuberance of the architecture, with elaborately carved and gilded columns, pilasters and pediments. The richness of the frames reinforced and heightened the glowing images of the paintings inside them.
Italian Renaissance frame makers influenced French artists and craftsmen of the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period the courts of France were bursting with artistic creativity. Rich, dramatic frames were designed to complement the larger-than-life subjects of baroque paintings and enhance the opulent interiors of royal and noble homes.
In England, frame making reached its zenith in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Leading furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale and William Kent included ideas for frames in their pattern books, and their styles displayed the refinements of their furniture designs. Grinling Gibbons, whose exquisite carvings of birds, fruits, flowers and streamers were unrivaled, brought an unsurpassed elegance to the art of the frame.
The Adam brothers also designed frames as well as furniture and an chitecture during this period, and Robert Adam incorporated frames into the interior design of the stately homes he planned. He went one step further by designing frames for specific pieces of furniture.
Although foreign styles influenced the evolution of frames in America, early domestic designs were very simple. Typical colonial shapes were plain or crossover moldings, crudely carved and nailed. Sometimes the frames were painted with flowers or false wood graining. As the country developed, its fashion and furniture demonstrated a simpler style, less elaborate than European design.
The frames in the photograph illustrate a wide variety of styles and mate rials. On the left is a German Black Forest frame, a fantasy of twigs, vines, leaves and flowers in carved walnut. To the right is an Anglo-Indian frame of pecanwood inlaid with ivory and ebony The two frames in the middle are French; the small oval is made of Boulle (marquetry in tortoiseshell and brass) and the miniature is framed in basse taille enamel. The frames at the bottom are both English. To the left is a very popular Victorian style, a bird's-eye maple frame with an inner rim of gilt. To the right is a frame of wood with gesso (a chalky substance mixed with sizing and applied in layers before gilding or painting) inner and outer borders. This style is traditionally used for portraits. The two frames at the top were found at Vito Giallo on Madison Avenue, the Boulle frame was a gift and the others were unearthed in flea markets. H. Heydenryk, on East 76th Street, has an astonishing collection of antique frames in an endless variety of size, period and country of origin. The APF Gallery, a frame maker of reproduction frames, does expert work in the restoration of antiques.
Majolica is the generic term for a broad category of tinglazed earthenware which has been produced over several centuries in many countries under various labels. In Holland it is called delft, in France faience and in Italy maiolica. In England it has been produced by Whieldon, Wedgwood and Minton, among others. American factories like Milford and Griffen, Smith and Hill continued the manufacture of this popular ware.
Majolica was first created in Italy in the 15th century In Urbino, a local artisan discovered a new technique for making a beautiful white lustrous glaze for pottery It was immediately fashionable, taken up as a specially of many royal Italian families and used by artists and sculptors of the Renaissance for portrait busts and plaques, and even for serving dishes. On the white opaque surface were laid the five master colors of the Italian painters: blue, green, yellow, purple and orange plus a brilliant ruby accent. This unusual and beautiful earthenware was produced until the middle of the 16th century when, for a variety of reasons, artists turned to other forms. Examples of magnificent Renaissance majolica may still be seen in major European museums like the Bargello in Florence.
The next chapter in the history of majolica takes place in France. Just as the art was waning in Italy a French potter named Bernard Pallissey, working independently, discovered the secret of the white glaze which must cover the earthen body so that the subsequent color glazes can attain their fullest lustre. His period of creativity in the middle of the 16th century, set a standard that has never been surpassed, Pallissey and his many followers in France and Germany strove for exotic effects in the molding of shapes as well as colors that were strong and vibrant. The influence of Pallissey on subsequent pottery design is most pronounced in the themes he drew from nature. He portrayed fish and snakes, shells and plants, flowers and leaves, and these motifs are still dominant in the decoration of majolica.
By the 18th century faience was popular all over Europe. The delft of Holland was characterized by the unusual bluish white character of the glaze. Its decoration and coloring, however were influenced more by Chinese motifs and by the glory of 17th century Dutch landscape painting than by the French or Italian designs. The main contribution that delft made to later majolica style was the more delicate texture of its pottery
In England in 1754 Thomas Whieldon, a distinguished potter who had already developed a colored highgloss product called agate ware, top toiseshell or simply Whieldon ware, formed a partnership with Josiah Wedgwood that was to last for five years. During that period the firm turned out tortoiseshell dishes, cauliflower jugs and teapots with crab-stock handles. Wedgwood experimented with many techniques until he was able to produce that fine green glaze that has become the distinguishing colon almost the hallmark of old majolica.
Although majolica continued to be popular until the end of the 18th century the Europeans turned their attention to fine porcelain, and it was not until the middle of the 19th century and the Victorian Era that majolica resurfaced. Herbert Minton is credited with a revival of interest with his display of majolica at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The new version was very different from the white pottery with the distinctive Moorish patterns of Renaissance Italian majolica. It was strongly sculpted and boldly colored with translucent glazes to enhance the natural forms. The compote pictured here is a perfect example of Minton majolica-intricate in design, whimsical in subject and sparkling in color
One of the most creative makers of majolica was George Jones, a potter from Stoke-Upon-Trent. His pieces, signed GJ, included candelabra, two-lidded vases and elaborate tureens, and are in great demand by designers and collectors.
In the 1840s two brothers, Edwin and William Bennett, came to America from the Wedgwood factory and set up a pottery in Baltimore-the first one in this country to make majolica. It was so popular that factories were established in the states of Ohio and New Jersey in Milford, Connecticut, and the biggest one in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, under the aegis of Griffen, Smith and Hill. The American factories made the kind of majolica that was so successful in England, and it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the U.S.- and British-made pottery
The vogue for the English country look has sparked a new popularity for majolica. The distinctive green glaze with accents of turquoise, pink and yellow complement the flowery chintzes and sunny backgrounds of the British style. Designers are always looking for the right accessory, and majolica often fills the bill.
The Minton serving dish in the photograph was found at KM Antiques of London in New York's D&D building. This shop carries an assortment of quality majolica, including rare signed works by George Jones. Another source of fine majolica is the James II gallery on 57th Street.
The history of art has always reflected the life of man in his environment. Since man has traditionally shared his world with animals, it is not surprising that paintings of animals, alone or with human companions, exist. in the last two hundred years, however, this genre has become so popular that Sotheby's and Christie's have established separate departments for the sale of animal paintings. Called Sporting pictures, the category includes subjects like hunting, racing, shooting, wild and farm animals, horses and dogs.
In the 18th century in France, there were artists like Desportes and Oudry who painted with exquisite care the privileged dogs who accompanied the king and his court on the royal hunt. These animals-dachshunds, spaniels, greyhounds, pointers-were important enough to be given individual names, classical or colloquial, and to merit portraits singly or in elegantly arranged groups. A famous painter of exotic animals, Jean-Jacques Bachelier was best known for his depiction of the Rococo dog, a precious poodle that looks more like a wind-up toy than a living creature.
At the same time that Bachelier was memorializing the pets of the French court, the century's greatest animal painter was working in England. George Stubbs (1724-1806) wrote and illustrated papers on zoology and comparative anatomy. He observed and painted, with scientific precision, a wide range of animals from exotic cheetahs from India to the most familiar of those domestic creatures the British have assimilated into their human society, horses and dogs. Stubbs' animal portraits are remarkable in their fusion of physical and psychological reality. His White Poodle in a Punt presents a real rebuttal to the Rococo poodle by emphasizing the truth, instinct and nature of the subject. His vision encompassed the outer appearance of the dog, seen in a man-made context, but somehow managed to intuit its inner, emotional life as well, with a realism and clarity that has rarely been equalled.
Animal paintings by Stubbs are still highly prized by collectors, but there were other 18th-century English artists who created memorable portraits of horses and dogs. Thomas Gainsborough, famous for his paintings of British aristocracy, chose as the subject of his first signed picture a bull terrier named Bumper, painted alone and alert in the woods. The distinguished British architect, Sir John Soane, was inspired by a visit to some Roman ruins to create a pair of architectural drawings for a "Canine Residence." One was restrained and practical, and the second was a reflection of French architectural fantasy, including a central dome, fountains, columns and a pair of sculptured dogs guarding the entrance.
The great explosion of creativity in animal portraits took place in the Victorian era. Queen Victoria, who reigned for more than 60 years, had tremendous influence on the arts and culture of her nation. She espoused all the traditional values-home and hearth, children, flowers, horses and dogs. She and her husband, Prince Albert, had a large family and numerous pets, and she commissioned many portraits by Edwin Landseer, whom she later knighted. He became her official court painter and one of the most influential artists of domestic subjects in the 19th century. Landseer painted the royal couple, their children and many of their animals, from macaws, lovebirds and marmosets to greyhounds, Newfoundlands, terriers and spaniels. in his later works, dogs were delineated in various guises, reflecting the occupations and sometimes the social status of their masters.
Landseer's name was to become synonymous with the Victorian sensibility toward animals, but there were other artists producing work with similar motifs. The current revival of interest in the style of English country homes helps to explain the enormous popularity of this genre today. interior designers like Mario Buatta, who is also an avid collector, are combing the art and antiques market in London and New York for animal paintings to enhance the walls of their elegant, chintz-filled drawing rooms.
The illustrated portrait of a Jack Russell terrier by a Victorian English artist named John Alfred Wheeler comes from a good selection of quality period paintings by Karen Warshaw who exhibits on East 74th Street in New York. Another source is Bellechase, a shop in the Place Des Antiquaires on East 57th Street that deals exclusively with animal subjects. The auction houses publish their schedule of sales that include annual or semi-annual auctions of sporting pictures.
The life of Thomas Sheraton presents us with a curious paradox. Here was a man who earned his living as a cabinetmaker, went on to teach drawing and architecture, and ultimately designed some of the most exquisite furniture of the late 18th and early 19th century Yet, not one piece of furniture which can be directly attributed to him has ever been discovered.
Biographical facts are sketchy He was born in 1751 in Stockton-onTees, England, and he traveled from one small town to another working as a carpenter to support himself. In 1790 he moved to London, set up shop in Wardour Street, Soho, where he became a freelance teacher and designer. His first style book, called The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, was published in four parts between 1791 and 1794. After several editions, and a Cabinet Dictionary, his final book, the Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer, and General Artist's Encyclopedia, appeared in 1805. One year later he was dead.
Sheraton's designs found instant favor among the upper classes. His early style was characterized by an absence of curved lines and an emphasis on crisp and clear details. Grace and refinement were the hallmarks of his work, and they were present in his writing tables for ladies, his dressing tables, work tables, card tables, dining tables and chairs, secretaries and etageres.
England had reached the zenith of national furniture style during the last third of the 18th century with the ascendance of Robert Adam and his brother The Adams, who replaced the rococo of Chippendale with the austere elegance of classical lines, organized the kind of atelier that would permit them to undertake not only the architectural design but also the complete furnishing and decorating of houses. The two cabinetmakble with the Adams' style were George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton.
Although there were similarities between their work, each man made distinctive contributions to the art of furniture design. Heppiewhite, who flourished between 1775 and 1786, followed the Chippendale aesthetic with curved lines, intricate carving and a strong preference for mahogany Sheraton's dominance, from 1790 to 1805, was more significant. The essentials of his style were straight lines rather than curved ones, a notable lightness and delicacy of form and ornament and a preference for unusual woods, mainly satinwood.
His sketches were strongly influenced by the contemporary French neo-classicism of the Louis XVI period. In France Sheraton furniture was called Louis Seize a L'Anglaise. His later designs owed much to the prevailing Empire mode in France but this phase was not as popular or influential as his earlier work. His creativity led him to experiment with new forms. He used exotic woods like zebra, beech and tulipwood for inlays, banding and stringing. Some wood pieces were painted and others were adorned with painted bouquets of flowers, acanthus leaves, urns, feathers, ribbons or swags. These painted decorations supplemented the delicate marquetry for which he was famous. Another innovation credited to Sheraton was the use of porcelain inserts in his wood pieces. Wedgwood plaques became as popular in England as Sevres medallions had been in France. Sideboards were relatively new in Sheraton's day and he designed many elegant versions, some with brass galleries at the back to hold plates. His beds, in the French tradition, were elaborate and fanciful, often with intricate canopies.
Like many of the chairs Sheraton designed, the mahogany library chair in the photograph has straight lines and a square back. The arms are shaped and tapered. He also sketched some upholstered easy chairs, high-backed with wings or low-backed with rounded curves. His settees were airy and delicate, strongly influenced by Heppiewhite styles.
Desks, which were introduced in mid-century, were conceived with drawers or cupboards on either side of the kneehole. Sheraton drew many variations of these and other pieces of combined furniture like bu reau-bookcases. Bow front commodes, serpentine chests, kidney shaped, Pembroke and other tables-Sheraton designed them all, and did it with beauty and distinction.
Many fine examples of Sheraton furniture can be found today. Agostino on lower Broadway in New York has the illustrated chair and a good selection of pieces from this period. Down the block at Hyde Park are many specimens of Sheraton's art. Around the corner on East 12th Street, Kentshire Galleries is another establishment that continually searches the market for authentic and useful Sheraton furniture. Happy hunting!
From the tiniest jeweler's beamscale to the oversized contraption devised to weigh farm animals, scales have been created to serve specific purposes. The function has dictated the design, and from the beginning scales were strictly utilitarian. And since the objects to be measured were so diverse in size and shape, many varieties of scales were invented.
The most common type of scale is a balance--an instrument consisting of a centrally pivoted beam with two containers of equal weight on either end. This kind of scale has been used since classical times, and is traditionally made of brass with a wood base. The balancing mechanism is held across the central post, and suspended from it, on chain or wire, are two flat or rounded platforms. Material to be weighed is placed in one container while the other holds graduated weights. Balance scales have been used to weigh a wide gamut of objects from pills to powders and gold and silver, gemstones to food. As the uses of these scales became more widespread, their designs grew more sophisticated. New materials were substituted for the traditional ones; copper or silver for the central mechanism, glass, pottery or even stone for the containers. At the same time, modifications in the structure of the scales were created for aesthetic reasons rather than utilitarian ones. The variety of elaborate designs and imaginative materials coupled with a universal fascination with the concepts of movement and balance made these scales interesting to collectors.
Another kind of scale, based on the same principle, became popular in England after the Uniform Postal Act of 1840. These scales, which were constructed to weigh letters and packages, combined the balancing pendulum with split stays, called Roberval designs. The base of the letter scale was traditionally small and rectangular, the central mechanism wide and short, and the two weighing platforms rested on the horizontal balancing arm. Often the weights were set into the base.
These postal scales became very popular during the Victorian era. The bases, which were first made in a pear or box wood in simple straight lines, became more ornate; they were fluted or scalloped in exotic striped or burled woods. Later scales appeared in brass, silver and even gold plate. Sometimes the base was fashioned in marble or semi-precious stone like malachite, lapis or agate with matching platforms. Elaborate bases in papier-mache with painted flowers and inlaid mother-of-pearl were created; the French influence was observed in bases made of boulle (tortoise shell and brass), shagreen (sharkskin) or fine porcelain like Sevres or Limoges. Letter scales were included in ornate Victorian desk sets along with inkstands, blotters, letter racks, stamp boxes and book ends.
A fine example of a collectible English scale is one was made by Parkins and Gotto in London in the 19th century. The mechanism is not the usual split-stay design, but an exceptional single platform type in brass and wood, found in a shop called Mantiques on the second level of the Manhattan Antiques Center. Organized around the principle of gender preference, the proprietor of this establishment has a fascinating stock of scales and balances as well as other measuring instruments.
As a scale collector myself, I am always drawn to the possibilities of antique scales as accessories in residential design. On a desk, in a bookcase, on a library table or a kitchen counter, an appropriate and beautiful scale can add the perfect touch.
Elegant old scales are not easy to find. With the exception of Mantiques, which always has a selection, no one shop in New York specializes. From time to time, I have found an unusual old balance scale at Ann Morris on 60th Street. In Agostino on lower Broadway, a client and I discovered a gold plated letter scale with a fluted base and Florentine marble plaques set into the platforms. Kentshire around the corner has a plethora of small antiques in its third floor Collectors Gallery. Occasionally an elegant English postal scale turns up. Recently I spotted a complete desk set, including a scale, in a striated calamander wood overlaid with engraved and gilded brass mounts. As I stopped to admire it, another designer purchased it for a lucky client.
PHOTO : A unique single platform mid-19th century English postal scale in polished brass with a scalloped base in burled wood.
The history of mirror is rooted in myth and legend. It begins with the story of Narcissus, a beautiful youth in Greco-Roman mythology, who sat by the edge of a lake, saw his reflection in the still water and fell in love with this own image.
Water was the original reflecting mirror. It was a puzzling one to the first people who chanced upon it for several reasons. The objects that were reproduced were reversed; also, when the surface of the water was disturbed the picture shimmered, fractured and then disappeared. From these early times, however, the concepts of self-discovery, self-knowledge and self-absorption have kept artisans involved in the creation of useful and decorative mirrors.
Ancient people experimented with the principles of reflection so that they could see themselves in relation to the world around them. At first they made mirrors from highly polished stones. Later, metals like gold and silver were burnished to a shiny gloss. Hand mirrors survive from Egyptian and Etruscan tombs. They were usually small and round and decorated with semi-precious stones. The handles were ornate and exquisitely carved, sometimes with figures of beautiful women.
By the middle ages, polished mirrors were in common use in Europe and the East. In medieval England they were made with loops for hanging on gold chains around a woman's neck or on her gown. In France, elaborately carved ivory mirror cases were admired. In India, tiny reflecting mirrors were sewn on clothing to ward off evil spirits.
The earliest glass mirros were made in Venice in the middle of the 16th century. They were fashioned of the local Venetian glass backed with an amalgam of mercury and tin. Refined and polished wall mirrors and standing mirrors as well as portable ones became more and more popular in Europe, England and America during the 17th century.
The framing of mirrors during the 17th and 18th centuries took many forms and was the subject of careful study by some of the giants of English design. Grinling Gibbons, the master wood carver, Thomas Chippendale, whose furniture has never bee n equalled, William Kent and Robert Adam, the distinguished architects, all turned their hand to the design of mirrors. At the beginning of this period, looking glasses were quite small with proportionately large frames. Elaborately carved wood, embroidered stumpwork (needlework with sections of ornament raised over padding), beadwork, tortoiseshell and even chased silver were used to surround the comparatively insignificant pieces of glass. Gilding, usually applied to carved gesso, came into vogue and was enthusiastically employed by the most skilled craftsmen of the era.
As it became possible to manufacture glass in sheets of larger size, it became apparent that not only the frame but also the mirror within it had decorative possibilities. The Galerie des Glaces at Versailles, built by Le Brun for Louis XIV in 1682, was a milestone in the history of mirror, a glittering salon of reflecting glass and gilt. Its fame inspired the use of ornamental mirror in the great houses of England. These mirrors were created for the decoration of the rooms in which they were placed, and not primarily for personal admiration as had been commonplace.
Overmantel mirrors were the most popular variety. Sometimes an oil painting of a landscape or flowers was incorporated into the frame--this was called a trumeau. Pier glasses were tall mirros with ornate frames that were set on the narrow walls between windows. Cheval mirrors were long looking-glasses suspended between two columns resting on trestle-like feet; the name comes from the pulley mechanism which is used to adjust the angle of the mirror. Dressing or toilet mirrors were smaller versions that were used on tables or chests. both cheval and dressing mirrors traditionally were found in bedrooms or dressing areas.
Fine antique mirrors abound in New York. The one in the photograph (above) was found in the James II Galleries on 57th Street. It is a Victorian mirror with an elaborate wood frame; the carving is in the style of Grinling Gibbons. Hype Park Antiques on lower Broadway deals in authentic period mirrors with gilt and wood frames. David Allan, down the street, specializes in mirrors in unusual sizes and shapes. He fancies large pier glasses and mirrors with Anglo-Indian, rare wood or lacquered frames. Kentshire Galleries on 12th Street has a good selection of decorative mirrors in the English style. For simple French looking glasses try Martell Antiques on 10th Street; for ornate French frames Howard Kaplan on Broadways is the place.
