On View
Not on viewLooking Glass
Date1750-1780
Terms
- Looking Glasses
- Glass
- Spruce
- Walnut
- England
- Northern Europe
Dimensions114.3 × 56.4 × 3.1 cm (45 × 22 3/16 × 1 1/4 in.)
Credit LineLooking Glass, England, 1750-1780. Concord Museum Collection, Gift of Cummings E. Davis; F701.
Object numberF701
DescriptionWalnut veneer, spruce; mirrored glass. One piece of glass set in frame with molded veneer with carved and gilt inner edge; bottom corners mitred, top corners rounded with slight point. Crest, skirt, and scrolls at top and bottom of each side with cut scrolled edges. In center of crest design of urn with flowing foliage, carved intaglio and gilded. This may be the looking glass that was valued at $27.50 in the inventory of the estate of John Thoreau (1754-1801), Henry Thoreau's grandfather. It was the second most valuable household item in the estate, valued higher than a set of six leather-bottom chairs and an easy chair combined. Large looking glasses were still relatively uncommon in the beginning of the 19th century, though they were soon to become more common, if still expensive. Two other reliable markers of wealth--an eight-day clock and forty ounces of silver--also appear in the inventory, bearing witness to John Thoreau's success as a merchant in Boston.
Collections
- Henry David Thoreau Collection
