Looking glass

Status

Not on view

Label Text

This towering looking glass caught President George Washington’s eye while at the handsome New York mansion of the Comte de Moustier, the visiting French envoy to the United States. After Moustier was recalled to France in October 1789, Washington rented his former residence and purchased a sizable quantity of his furnishings, including this glass and its mate. The pair later hung in the Green Drawing Room of the Philadelphia executive residence and, after Washington’s retirement from the presidency in 1797, in the two-story New Room, which functioned as a formal dining room, entertaining space, and art gallery.

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Datec. 1788

Geography Possibly made - United States

Medium/TechniqueBasswood (primary), yellow pine (secondary), gilt, gesso, glass

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 81 1/4 in. x 43 in. (206.38 cm x 109.22 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, 1939

Object numberW-28

DescriptionVertical, rectangular, looking glass composed of two pieces of glass within a carved and gilded Neoclassical or Louis XVI entablature frame with a fillet and cable or ribbon-and-stick at its outer edge, a recessed center frieze, and a fillet and beading along its inner edge.
The mitered joints of the frame are reinforced with screws. The frame appears to be formed from three layers, including an applied molding, a center section with a concave half-round that protrudes from the sides, and a tertiary wood support. Three rectangular through tenons are visible on each outside long edge of the frame.
Published ReferencesAgnes Peter Mott, Peter Collection (Copy of a List Loaned by Miss Agnes Peter, May 1937) [PFL], bound photocopy, Curatorial File Room, 122.

Helen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1966), 36-37.

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