Looking glass

1775-1825

Measurements

23-3/4 in x 12-1/2 in

Materials

Pine (probably white pine), mirrored glass

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.662

Inscription

A tag attached to the looking glass was printed for “THE ANTIQUE SHOP / AMERICAN FURNITURE / 1707 Chestnut St. Wilmington, Del.”  It is dated June 6, 1955, and inscribed for “The David Wilson Mansion, Inc. / American [?] Chippendale [?] Mirror / [?] [?] antique Blue [?]. / [?] Mrs. M. Dunham Higgins.”

Provenance

Gift of Mrs. M. Dunham Higgins to The David Wilson Mansion, Inc. in 1955.  The label suggests that Mrs. Charles Alfred (Marion Glenn Dunham) Higgins (1889-1971), a Wilmington, Delaware, resident, acquired the looking glass for the Wilson house.

Comments

This blue-painted looking glass has a relatively simple pediment or crest, compared to other looking glasses.  Its relatively wide dimension suggests that was likely made later than the simple pediment might otherwise indicate.  The pediment has traces of what appears to be yellow pigment, which was likely part of a decorative composition.  It may have been abraded off when someone cleaned the looking glass before it was donated to the David Wilson Mansion.