(“A stove with fire in it is a beloved jewel of our Dutch wives, especially when the snowflakes are flying and the hail rattles.”)
The author of the Dutch Mercurius calls it “a small wooden piece of carpentry with four holes in the top.”
The “Looking-Glasse” that attracted Owen Feltham’s attention was a luxury. The spiegel-maker (mirror-maker) was only to be found in the large cities. He was not allowed to make the frames, nor to gild them; for this was the work of the Carpenters’ and Gilders’ Guild. The signs, however, read—“spyeghelwinckel,” “de nyeuwe spyeghelwinckel,” “spyeghel-magazijn,” “allerley spyeghels groot en clijn,” and “de Venetiaense spyeghelwinckel.” (The “mirror shop,” “the new mirror shop,” “mirror magazine,” “all kinds of mirrors, large and small,” and “Venetian mirrors.”)
Plate XLIV.—Dutch Kas.
CLUNY MUSEUM, PARIS.
The glass mirror was a novelty, for, until the seventeenth century, polished metal was used; but at this period a method of silvering glass with a mixture of quicksilver and pewter was invented in the celebrated factory of Murano. The Venetians monopolized the trade until the end of the century, when Abraham Thevart made mirrors (84 × 50 inches) in Paris. Both Venetian and French mirrors adorned the reception rooms of the rich stadhouders and mayors of Holland, and hung above the toilet-tables of ladies (see Plate [XL]). The archives of the Castle of Develstein mention: a “very large mirror from France,” “Venetian mirrors,” “a small coarse mirror in a black frame,” “a fine Venetian mirror in the Salon, with flowered crystal border”; “an Amsterdam mirror of medium size,” and “one French mirror, large and beautiful.”
Mirrors were not only valued for their thick glass and fine silvering, but on account of their choice frames. Inventories speak of scroll frames, open-work frames, frames with lions or griffins supporting a coat-of-arms, etc. Ladies also carried German and English mirrors suspended from their waists, for the purpose of arranging their coiffure, ruff, or patches.
The mirror, like other expensive luxuries, was often prohibited by the clergy of the Protestant Church; and many a rich burgher was reprimanded for spending so much money on mirrors, porcelain and furniture, and giving so little to the Church.
The most beautiful mirrors were probably found in The Hague, where the reception rooms and bedrooms were usually decorated in the “style Louis XIV.” Some of these were of Venetian glass with beautiful crystal borders and crystal lustres at the side. Frequently these were placed above the richly carved mantelpiece.
The bedsteads, often richly carved, were of oak, walnut or sacredaan, and were always hung with curtains. A deep valance often decorated the base. The centre of the canopy was ornamented with the family coat-of-arms, and each corner with a bouquet of many coloured plumes. Sometimes the bedstead was on a platform, and the rich hangings were supported by caryatides and the festoons of the canopy by carved cupids. The bedsteads were high, and a ladder or steps was required to climb into them. Little steps or foot benches stood in front of the bedstead and were sometimes used for seats or tables, somewhat like the old escarbeau of Mediaeval days.