Antique Arts & Crafts Style Octagonal Wall Mirror Embossed Brass Flowers & Ferns

Antique Arts & Crafts style octagonal brass wall mirror with embossed roses, bleeding hearts & fern leaves, in the style of Keswick School of Industrial Arts, 1920`s ca, English.

This antique mirror has been gently cleaned while preserving the aged patina. It is ready to hang.

While this mirror is unmarked, it could be the work of the Keswick School of Industrial Arts because of the style & handmade features. It exemplifies the ideals & techniques of the Arts & Crafts Movement: the frame covered with embossed & hammered brass.

With applied floral & foliate decoration this mirror is strongly influenced by the Arts & Crafts Movement but kept modern with its minimal form. It would sit elegantly over a mantle, sideboard, chest of drawers, in a cloakroom, or by the front door. It would suit a range of interiors such as Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, Hollywood Regency, Traditional, Country or Contemporary.

The brass frame has the warm original antique patina preserved developed over the years. It has interesting & unique decorations, a combination of handmade & early machine made features. There is an embossed foliate decoration of roses, fern leaves & bleeding hearts creating depth & texture. In Art, the heart-shaped flowers of the Bleeding Heart represent strong and unconditional love. In Victorian times, ferns represented humility and sincerity. From the Middle Ages onwards, roses symbolised the love & purity in religious art and literature. The theme was revived by the pre-Raphaelite, Aesthetic and Symbolist painters in the second half of the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

The frontal background has the traditional hammered effect. The outer edges of the frame and mirror surround are trimmed with a linear narrow tubular pattern. Both the external & internal brass trim are flat & simple, emphasizing the octagonal shape.

The brass sheet continues along the sides to the backside and is fitted by decorative brass nail pins. On the reverse there is the original antique wood backplate.

The quality thick silver mirror insert is the original antique to the piece, and securely held in place behind the frame. It is fully reflective with a bevelled edge which adds a sense of depth.

To hang the mirror on the wall there is the original antique metal chain which is attached to the two original antique metal plates, each screwed to the back wooden plate. The chain could be showing when hanged as a decorative feature, or shortened from the side plates to be hidden behind the frame.

This antique wall mirror is in very good condition for its age. The antique patina has been preserved on the brass. The brass frame is sound with no missing parts or cracks. The brass surfaces have the original clear lacquer present & an attractive warm patina & developed over the years adding character, with minor rubbing & superficial marks. The original antique mirror surface is in good condition, it is very reflective although with some uniform light foxing in most areas, a sign of age, but no cracks or chips and minimal superficial marks, all in line with age & wear and as expected for an antique piece.

Additional dimensions:

The total external dimensions are: Height: 40 cm, Width: 40 cm, Depth: 1.5 cm.

The dimensions of the silver mirror surface are: Height: 24.5 cm, Width: 24.5 cm

Packing is offered free of charge. We take special professional care with packing. For safe transport the mirror will be wrapped in bubble wrap, foam and an outer layer of card. It would then easily fit into a box with loose fill packing suitable for posting with a courier. We ship with reliable couriers (signed for, tracked & insured).

MAIN DELIVERY CHARGES:

Within London (UK): £ Free
UK Mainland: £ Free
European Union: £ 75
United States/Canada: £ 95
Japan: £ 110
Australia £ 110
Rest of the World please enquire.

ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN BRITAIN HISTORY

The Arts & Craft Movement took its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, a group founded in London in 1887.

The late 19th Century marked the beginning of a change in the value society placed on how things were made. This was a reaction to not only the damaging effects of industrialization but also the relatively low status of the decorative arts. Arts and Crafts reformed the design and manufacture of everything from buildings to jewellery. The Arts and Crafts leaders wanted to develop products that not only had more integrity but which were also made in a less `dehumanising` way.

The movement was influenced by art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900), whose work had suggested a link between a nation`s social health and the way in which its goods were produced. Ruskin expressed: "Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together".

The Keswick School of Industrial Art (KSIA) was founded in 1884 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and his wife Edith as an evening class in woodwork and repoussé metalwork at the Crosthwaite Parish Rooms, in Keswick, Cumbria. The enterprise, designed to alleviate unemployment, prospered, and within ten years more than a hundred men were attending classes. A new building was erected for the school at a nearby site. The school closed in 1984.