Originally, there were shown in Hamilton Hall, at Salem, two fine examples of girandoles, with glass pendants, which in the midst of lighted candles reflected myriad sparkles. Interesting, indeed, would be the tales they could tell of fair ladies in powder and patches, and courtly gallants who in the long ago gathered in this famous hall to tread the measures of the minuet! These girandoles were the gift of Mr. Cabot, and they are now replaced by simpler examples, the originals having been given to the Saltonstall family, in whose possession they still are.
Of the late colonial looking-glasses, there are two general types, the earlier dating back to about 1810 and characterized by an overhanging cornice, beneath which pendant balls or acorns are frequently found, with frames of wood carved and gilded, or painted. Further decoration is found in a panel beneath the cornice ornamented with various designs, such as a horn of plenty, floral subjects, or classical scenes.
In the later type, the cornice has disappeared, and the frame as a rule is more simply ornamented. The upper panel, however, has been retained, and almost invariably it shows a painting of some sort. Until within a comparatively few years, it was not a difficult matter to secure mirrors of this type, but the recent fad for collecting old furniture has caused many of the best specimens to be purchased, and, in consequence, really good colonial mirrors are rapidly becoming scarce, and one is a treasured possession.
The Kittredge house at North Andover, Massachusetts, shows several fine examples of this later type, and other examples are to be found in the Lord house at Newton, and in several Salem residences. These show a great variety of panels, ranging from pastoral scenes to horns of plenty, and from ships to simple baskets of flowers.
It is interesting to note, in connection with these old-time mirrors, the influence of the period reflected in the framing, and also how graphically the frame depicts the social life of its date of manufacture, and the country in which it was designed. There is a marked flamboyancy in the Venetian designs of the early eighteenth century, changed in the middle of the same century to a heavy splendor and inartistic grandeur. England, slightly earlier, gave examples of fruit which many think were designed by Gibbon, but which materially lack the freedom of his work.
Scrolls and angles, arabesques and medallions, belong to the second half of the eighteenth century. Many such came to New England, and one of these mirrors is still seen in a Salem home. Its decorations hint of the influence of the Renaissance, and it shows medallions decorated with grotesque figures on either side of the upper panel.
Plate XLV.—Mirror, 1770; Lafayette Courting Mirror, Osgood Collection; Empire Mirror, 1810.
Perhaps as interesting as any of the old mirrors is the Lafayette mirror, one excellent example of which is seen in the Osgood house at Salem. This is small in size, surmounted with a painting of Lafayette, and is one of a great number designed in compliment to the beloved Frenchman's visit to Salem in 1784. It is known as the Courtney Mirror.