The looking-glass which heads Chapter XIII is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is of the same period as the glass in Illustration [371].
A looking-glass is shown in the heading to Chapter VIII in which the decoration is produced by both carving and sawing, as well as by gilt ornaments. The sawing of ornamental outlines appears upon the earliest frames, such as Illustration [364], and is found upon frames made during the eighteenth century until its close.
During the last quarter of the eighteenth century frames which are apparently a cheaper form of the mahogany and gilt looking-glasses described, were most popular, and are commonly found. These frames are veneered with mahogany or walnut, and are sawed in outlines similar to those of the richer frames of walnut or mahogany and gilt. The inside of the frame next the glass has a narrow hand-carved gilt moulding, and there is sometimes a gilt bird flying through the opening sawed in the upper part of the frame, while in other frames the opening is partially filled by three feathers, a conventional shell, or a flower in gilt. Occasionally a line of inlaying follows the gilt moulding next the glass. In smaller looking-glasses a gilded plaster eagle was glued upon the frame above the glass. Such frames may be found, or rather might have been found, in almost any old house.
Illustration [376] shows two of these looking-glasses. The larger glass is owned by the writer, the smaller by W. S. G. Kennedy, Esq., of Worcester.
A looking-glass with some variations from those previously shown forms the heading to Chapter X. The lower part of the frame has the sawed outlines which appear upon so many, while the upper part has a broken arch cornice of a high and slender design, showing the influence of the lighter Hepplewhite styles. A colored shell is inlaid in the top of this frame, and there are two rows of fine inlaying around the glass. The frame is surmounted by an urn or vase with flowers and stalks of wheat, upon wires, like the slender garlands at the sides. This looking-glass belongs to H. H. Kohn, Esq., of Albany.
Illus. 376.—Looking-glasses, 1750-1790.
Illustration [377] shows another looking-glass of the same style, with the wheat and flowers upon wires springing from an urn at the top, and leaves of plaster strung upon wires at the sides.