Pairs of Mirrors

Important mirrors were very often made in pairs. This made quite a stunning effect in the fashionable grand estates of the 18th century gentry.

Very often these mirrors would be in the Rococo style. This style was developed in France in the 1730’s and spread to Italy and Germany. Also, it is very ornamental, asymmetrical, using C-scrolls, festoons of carved flowers, birds, acanthus leaves, masks and Chinese and Japanese motifs. Pairs were also made in baroque and neoclassical styles. Additionally, Thomas Chippendale had Rococo chinoiserie mirror designs in his design book The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1754.