Looking glass

1796-1803

Maker

John Elliott, Jr. (1739-1810)

Measurements

34-1/2 inx 18-3/4 in x 1-1/4 in

Materials

Mahogany, mirrored glass; white pine* secondary woods

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.578

Inscription

A label printed on chain-laid paper and pasted onto the backboard reads, “JOHN ELLIOTT, / At No 60, South Front Street, between Chestnut and Walnut Streets / PHILADELPHIA, / Sells by Wholesale and Retail / Looking Glasses / In neat Mahogany Frames of American Manufacture, / Coach Glasses, Window Glass, Spectacles, Paint- / ers Colours, Oil, Varnishes, &c. – And a ge- / neral Assortment of / Drugs and Medicines. / N.B. Old glasses new quicksilvered and framed as usual, / and new Glass supplied to People’s old Frames.”

Condition Notes

The backboards are presently installed upside down.  Some minor veneer losses and repairs have been made to the front of the looking glass frame.

Provenance

Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. J. Newberry Reynolds to The David Wilson Mansion, Inc., in 1942.

Comments

Son and namesake John Elliott (1739-1810) dropped “Jr.” after his name sometime after his father died in 1791. The dating of this particular label is based on Elliott’s street address, his earliest listing in Philadelphia city directories without use of “Junior,” and wording that specifies he manufactured looking glasses rather than only retailed them.  See Judith Coolidge Hughes, “The Labels of John Elliott Jr.,” Antiques 91, no. 4 (April 1967): 515-516.  The label is reproduced as fig. 5 on p. 516.

This looking glass, documented by its original label, is one of many examples that demonstrate the half-century and longer time during which these “Chippendale style” designs were popular.