Bumerang Mirror Rectangle Studio

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

The rise of table mirrors reflects changes in culture, attitudes toward leisure and standards of beauty. As the centerpiece of a vanity, an antique or vintage table mirror tells the story of how an emphasis on beauty and wearing makeup became more fashionable in the 17th century in Europe. Table mirrors were also often positioned on lowboys as part of a dressing table.

In the early 20th century, vanities were designed in the glamorous Art Deco style, with the mirrors that adorned them being a central element. Table mirrors began to be manufactured in materials aside from metal and wood, namely enamel and the newly available chrome-plated steel to match the dressing tables on which they would sit.

Today, mirrors can add drama to any space, and table mirrors range from ornately carved and gilded framed mirrors to simple modern glass and metal mirrors. Table mirrors are at home on a vanity in a bedroom and are attractive pieces in a study, library or even a bathroom or dressing room.

Find a wide collection of table mirrors for any design aesthetic and every collector on 1stDibs.