COL.2018.45 | RSN Collection & Archive

Mirror frame

1653
Maybe late 19th century-early 20th century

United Kingdom

Embroidered mirror frame with double doors, dated 1653.

Standing, double-door mirror frame dated 1653 with pastoral and royal imagery. The wooden frame is padded with an unknown material and covered in linen, which is itself covered in silk that is embroidered with silk and metal threads.

At the top of the frame sits a king, likely Charles I, under a canopy. He and his canopy are worked in long and short and satin stitches. He is wearing ermine-lined Robes of Estate and carrying the orb and sceptre. The wall behind him is dotted with spangles and surrounded by curtains and the date 1653. He is flanked by a snail, bird, and two large flowers. Created during the Interregnum, the depiction of the king on this mirror would have been a political statement of the creator's royalist sympathies. This sort of imagery was common after the Restoration, but in the 1650s the trappings of royal authority as symbolised in the crown and the heavy, luxurious textiles on and around the king speak to the enduring power of the monarchy after the regicide of 1649.

The double doors of the frame contain pastoral imagery. On the viewer's left-side panel is a shepherdess holding a flower and accompanied by two sheep with wool made of French knots. The shepherdess' brown collar and cuffs are worked in French knots, while her pink dress is worked in long and short stitches. Her crook is embroidered in stem stitch and the flower she is holding is outlined in back stitch. Above the shepherdess is the figure of Cupid holding a bow and arrow. The right-side panel shows a man worked in long and short stitches, playing a lute and accompanied by a rather grumpy looking dog. Above them is a distant house on a hill with flags flying and tall walls.

Flanking both the shepherdess and the lute player are pillars with winding vines, flowers, leaves, and berries. These floral motifs are worked in couched silk, satin stitch, and couched passing. The columns are couched purl and the bases and caps of the columns are in pearl purl and twisted metal threads. All three of the human figures on the mirror frame are worked in tapestry shading.

At the centre of the bottom of the frame is an oak tree with leaves and acorns. The leaves and stems are worked in satin stitch with stem stitch veins and couched metal passing outlines. The acorns are also in satin stitch with couched passing thread outlines and the acorn caps are chipping overlaid with a trellis stitch, though the trellis has come unravelled in some places. To the immediate right and left of the oak leaves are a moon and a sun, again in satin stitch and couched passing, peeking out from behind stem stitched clouds. In the viewer's bottom left corner, a lion reclines on a hillock. The lion's body is block shaded in three colours, his mane is bullion knots, and his face has a very human expression rendered in long and short stitches and outlined in couched passing. Opposite him in the bottom right corner sits a cat-like leopard in long and short stitch. The hillocks upon which the oak tree, lion, and leopard rest are made of purl and pearl purl.

The mirror frame's two doors open to reveal a large mirror, which was replaced at some point. The interiors of the doors are covered in salmon-coloured silk. All of the frame's sides are covered in silver metal braid. At the top right is a rosette made of metal passing. A second rosette, which is extant but no longer attached to the frame, would have originally been situated at the top left. The back of the frame is covered in tan-coloured silk damask in a geometric pattern. It is original, as is the wooden easel that is attached to it. Its original feet are in situ.

This mirror frame was likely embroidered by a domestic stitcher rather than a professional one. It was mostly likely worked by a girl at school or in the home, though it could also have been embroidered by a woman in the home. There are other similar or nearly identical mirror frames worked by different hands, suggesting that they all feature designs drawn out by the same draftsperson or workshop. A nearly identical example is in a private collection after being sold by Bonham's in 2008. At least two mirrors of slightly different shapes and imagery but very similar drawing styles also survive. One is in the collection of the National Trust's Montacute House (NT 598137) while the other is in a private collection. Minute details within these mirror frames suggest there is a possibility that they are not actually mid-17th century but rather late 19th or early 20th-century kits made in the style of 17th-century mirror frames. 17th-century mirror frames with double doors such as this are quite rare in comparison to contemporary mirror frames without doors, which survive in far greater numbers. With a date of 1653, this is a relatively early example of the embroidered mirror frames that became so popular in England between approximately 1650 and 1675.

width: 37.5cm
height: 51.5cm
depth: 3cm

silk
linen
damask
silk thread
metal thread
metal braid
wood
mirror
padding
spangles

Block shading