The Fretwork Mirror
This post is part of a series called A history of the world in 100 everyday antiques. My goal is to tell the stories of 100 “everyday antiques” that you could have in your home for under £100. This is a story about a 250 year old mirror that my kids throw bath toys at.
Bath time
Before having kids I didn’t expect that I would spend so much of my life in bathrooms. But with the combination of potty training and daily bath-time this has become a major hangout space for our family.
We live in a new-build house, so the space was pretty stark when we moved in. Big mirror, LED downlighters, white walls. So in an attempt to bring softness and warmth we painted it a rich red colour and put up some pictures. But for me something was missing.
Maybe it’s because I’m the son of an antique dealer… and the grandson of an antique dealer… or maybe you would have felt it too… But it needed another mirror. A special magic mirror. A mirror that’s very close to my heart.
Nope, not a sparkly pink Disney Snow White mirror (although my kids might have gone for that one). What it needed was a 1750s fretwork mirror. Yup, that’s right. My family are throwing their bath toys at a 250 year old mirror. And for the princely sum of £75 so could you.
I’m a £75 magic mirror
Here’s what I’m talking about. This mirror was made around 1750 somewhere in the English or Welsh countryside.
Looks pretty upmarket right? Go into any antiques market or auction house in the country and you’ll probably find one of these for under £100.
Sure, they vary hugely in quality and a very good one covered in gold might go for thousands. But if like me you like these basic “country” ones then you’re in for a bargain.
The frame has been fret-sawed into elaborate swirls out of a thin slice of mahogany and polished to a shine. The mirror ‘plate’ is a heavy chunk of a thing with slightly wobbly, hand-bevelled edges.
But that’s not why I love fretwork mirrors. Let’s get into the story of why having one of these little bits of history in your home brings so much joy.
Teenage kicks
I grew up with mirrors like this. We had one with heavily degraded glass next to our front door so I guess I looked in it every day when I was growing up. Before every day of school, before every night out. Probably the bad quality of the glass gave teenage angst a reassuring reflection!
And this is what’s so compelling about a mirror. I know that for over 250 years my mirror has been used to check the straightness of periwigs and hemlines. To inspect lipstick and cravats. As well as spots and hoodies.
Late night raves
Fretwork mirrors pop up everywhere. Which is pretty surprising given that they’re made of glass almost 300 years old. So how come? Two reasons. The first is my speculation and the second is a fact:
- People love these mirrors. Once you have one in your home it’s going to be there for life. So actually a 300 year old mirror might have only been moved 6 times!
- There were a lot of them made… because in the 18th century light was expensive and putting a candle in front of a mirror doubles it’s impact.
In the 1750s light was scarce. In the winter you could only stay up to work or party if you could afford it. And to some extent this has been the case ever since. Whether your light source is beeswax candle, whale oil lamps, gas or electric lighting, you can double the impact of your light by putting a mirror behind it. At this time of high energy bills maybe we all need to be reminded of this!
My mirror was probably made for a wealthy farmer or a small country house. And the owner probably would have had a few of them. A sensible investment if you’re thinking of partying till dawn without worrying about the bills from the candle maker.
Twiddly bits
Fretwork mirror frames are kind of nutty. It’s not really like anything else in my house. It’s reflective of the Rococo Style, which was high fashion in the 1750s and would have been reaching the countryside when this mirror was made.
It wasn’t a particularly enduring style, unlike the dominant neo-classicism. And let’s face it, it’s got a lot of delicate twiddly bits. So most examples of other types of furniture that survive are expensive museum pieces rather than everyday antiques.
But the everyday-antiques-geeks amongst you might recognise it from the other place where a lot of examples survive: chair backs. In 1754 Thomas Chippendale published The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director — a furniture design bible that defined taste for a generation. And many of his ‘splats’ (the bit in the middle of the chair back) reflect this style. ‘Country Chippendale’ chairs (eg more cheaply made and with less carving) have the same sort of flat rococo fretwork.
Gnarly
The spirit of the rococo style is in the sense of fluidity and movement in the shapes. So some fretwork mirrors embody this and feel ‘right’. Others just don’t. It’s totally dependent on whether the local maker ‘gets it’ or they’re just blindly copying. I feel like this one works…
What I love is that this maker does absolutely ‘get’ the material they’re working with. They’ve recognised that the sweeping grain of the wood actually adds to the swirly rococo style. They’ve even gone as far as incorporating a large gnarly knot into the top section of the mirror, rakishly offset from centre. Nice.
The mirror frame has been hand cut with a jigsaw into expressive, fire-licking shapes. You can still see the rough cuts of the saw around the outside edge. Unfortunately time has taken its toll on these extremities. Almost none of the delicate original ‘twiddles’ remain in their entirety. But what I like is that the remainder has been smoothed and sanded. To my eye this even further enhances the asymmetrical ‘melting old rock face’ of the rococo style.
Glass from the past
I won’t go on too much here about the mirror ‘plate’ itself, but there are three ways to know it’s old (and not a replacement):
- Stub your finger up against it. You can see how thick it is by the distance between your finger and its reflection. Move your finger and if it’s old glass the thickness will vary.
- Look at the back of the mirror. If the glass is held in by a rough oak board that’s been nailed to the back then that’s a good sign it’s original.
- This glass is bevelled (the edges have an angle ground off them). On old glass this will have been done by hand. So look down the edge and if it’s old then you’ll see it’s a bit wavy.
Tropical Shropshire
These mirrors were made all over the UK. But it’s likely that mine was made somewhere near where I bought it from in Shropshire.
The buyer will have commissioned a local maker to construct this, probably using a pattern or an existing example to get the shape right. To make it they will have had to buy in some of the expensive new tropical mahogany that in the 1750s was just starting to replace locally grown oak and walnut as the classy choice for furniture.
Revolution
What’s going on in the 1750s when the first owner was straightening his hat in this mirror? Well, the American colonies are still under British control. It’s 20 years till the Revolution and the War of Independence.
But as a country farmer or landowner you’re probably more interested in the exploding Agricultural Revolution in the UK. Maybe you’re straightening your hat before going out to inspect the progress on your new fields, freshly reclaimed from marshland.
Tracts and Tunes
So you’re staying up late into the night in your manor house. There’s a fire in the grate and the room is lit by candles, reflected out into the room from your fretwork mirror. If you’re not partying, what are you doing?
Well maybe you’re exploring, fascinated, your new copy of Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755. Seven years in the making, it’s an intellectual wonder of the age.
Or perhaps you’re sitting at your square piano, practicing your Bach (who recently died in 1750) or working your way through a new piece by Handel, who’s Messiah was written in 1742.
As seen on TV
Outlander (TV Series) Depicts events leading up to the Jacobite Rising of 1745. In this bedroom scene you can just see the top of a fretwork mirror reflecting the candle light.
Cool mirror, what if you crack it?
I love this 250 year old mirror. It’s been through the wars a bit (literally) and lost a few of its twiddly bits. Maybe during raucous candle lit card game or in a row about the likely outcome of the American war of Independence.
So I sort of feel like it can survive having a few rubber ducks chucked at it by my kids. But if it should get cracked or broken, the joy is that is really doesn’t matter. A bit of glue to stick a twiddle back on… A characterful crack across the glass…. There’s not much that will take away the charm of this excellent everyday antique.
Find out more
If you’re interested in exploring more about antique mirrors, a good place to start is John Andrew’s “British Antique Furniture”. It used to be the bible for antique dealers and collectors identifying and valuing furniture.
And my 1980s edition (see pic below) shows how crazy cheap a rococo mirror is today. On the right you can see the price estimate for a mirror not much different from mine. If you like this sort of thing then they’re a total steal.
More stories like this
Thanks so much for reading this story about an old mirror! It’s a bit of an experiment so I’d really appreciate your comments and feedback.
This post is part of a series called A history of the world in 100 everyday antiques. My goal is to tell the stories of 100 “everyday antiques” that you could have in your home for under £100.
