Gentleman's Hanging Vanity Mirror, France, 18th Century

18th century, Italian baroque giltwood mirror This fine Baroque mirror was made in Venice (Italy) at the beginning of the 18th century, Louis XV Era. The rectangular mirror is circumscribed by a golden wooden frame with three bands: an internal one carved with a palmette pattern, a central one smooth and an external one with phytomorphic elements. Around it develops a real triumph of gold carvings, with large volutes, curls and foliated elements carved in the openwork wood. The refined richness of the carvings finds maximum expression in the cymatium in which stands a large crown placed at the top of the phytomorphic elements. Stylistically the mirror can be approached to the works of the famous wooden sculptor Andrea Brustolon (Belluno, 20 July 1662-25 October 1732), great protagonist of the Venetian Baroque. Highly decorative and of great executive quality, this mirror will bring elegance, light and warmth in every room, placed over a dresser or a console, inserted in a living room, a study, an entrance hall, but also in a bedroom. Very refined and of remarkable sculptural virtuosity it is suitable next to antique furniture...

18th century hand carved Spanish polychrome painted framed mirror This Baroque wood frame is hand carved and polychrome painted. The contrast...

This is a stunning antique Victorian Coromandel gentleman's travelling vanity case with fitted interior, circa 1865 in date. This rectagular shaped traveling case is made of rare coromandel wood and features a blank brass plaque. The interior is well fitted with Sheffield silver plate mounted jars, bottles and shaving tools, displayed on fitted blue velvet. The secret button at the front of the case opens a sprung secret drawer below, for your jewellery. The underside of the lid has a velvet backed mirror and a compartment for hiding your letters. Complete with working Bramah lock and original key. It is a beautiful piece which will look stunning on your dressing table. Condition: In really excellent condition. Please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 9 x Width 26 x Depth 19 Dimensions in inches: Height 3 inches x Width 10 inches x Depth 7 inches Calamander wood or Coromandel wood is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesita Thwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood. Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel. Travelling cases became very popular towards the end of the 18th century. They were manufactured specifically to accompany upper class gentleman during travel. Dressing cases were originally rather utilitarian but they spoke volumes about their owners’s wealth and place in society, as at that time, traveling was only done by the elite. Gentleman’s dressing cases would contain bottles and jars for colognes, aftershaves and creams as well as essential shaving and manicure tools. As these boxes became more popular, many further traveling item options were offered for inclusion. By the early Victorian era, ladies also began to travel and suddenly their requirements were anything but utilitarian! Ladies dressing cases could feature a wide range of decorative bottles and jars as well as a vast array of beautifcation tools, all designed with pure luxury in mind. The exterior of the box became almost as important as the interior and these boxes started being veneered with beautiful exotic woods from all over the world. As demand for gentleman’s boxes lessened, the dressing case started to also become known by the more feminine term ‘vanity box’. These boxes, with their excessive price tags, were now considered as true works of art and beauty in themselves, and were often bought as status symbols rather than actual traveling companions. Some of the finest examples of travelling cases made from exotic wood with gold and silver fittings come from: Walter Thornhill, Betjamann & Sons and Jenner...

This beautiful 18th century French giltwood frame is richly inlaid and hand-carved with floral patterns. The gilding is made of gold leaves and it has its beautiful original patina a...

Baroque style Florentine painted and giltwood picture or mirror frame - expertly hand carved from one solid piece of wood - featuring robust gilded laurel leaf carving to the raised front - surrounded by red lacquer to the curving sides - all surrounded by an undulating ribbon border - replaced hanger to the back - unsigned - Italy - 18th century. Excellent antique condition - vintage replacement...

After a model attributed to Jean Antoine Houdon, of the poet Nicolas Joseph Laurent Gilbert (1750 - 1780). Superbly sculpted in a coat and ruffled shirt set on a waisted socle. The...