Antique Mirrors: Antique Wall & Overmantel Mirrors

A wide and varied selection of Antique Wall Mirrors, Fireplace Overmantel Mirrors and Period Giltwood and carved Mirrors.

  • Stock: 16487

    A Victorian overmantel mirror with its original distressed gilded finish to the frame and applied foliate carving. This encloses the original arched mirror plate.

    Victorian, c.1860.

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    width height depth
    top 37 316"
    94.5 cms
    49 58"
    126 cms
    2 1316"
    7 cms
    bottom 43 14"
    110 cms

    Listed Price: £2,300 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16501

    A very large and grand Venetian overmantel mirror. The frame is profusely decorated with c scrolls and floral flourishes, and is surmounted by a mirrored cartouche with a rocaille surmount. The original gilding is beautifully worn, with the warm red bole glowing through.

    Italian, 19th century.

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    width height depth
    top 49 316"
    125 cms
    70 78"
    180 cms
    6 14"
    16 cms
    bottom 36 58"
    93 cms

    Listed Price: £8,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16108

    A tall and elegant early Victorian overmantel gilt gesso mirror with a slender pilastered framed, and a ribboned pediment surmount.
    English, c.1850.

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    Width Height
    54 14"
    138 cms
    70 14"
    178.5 cms

    Listed Price: £3,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15998

    A late 19th century French gilt gesso wall mirror, with a pierced scrolled pediment and shell surmount, fitted with a bevelled central plate, flanked by angled marginal mirror plates.

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    Width Height
    27 316"
    69 cms
    49 58"
    126 cms

    Listed Price: £2,400 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16488

    A fine George III giltwood and carton-pierre wall mirror in the manner of James and Robert Adam. The slender frame encloses the rectangular plate and is surmounted by opposing griffins centred by a slender urn and ears of wheat.

    English, c.1770. Provenance: The Estate of the late Sir George Dowty (1901-1975, inventor, engineer and businessman) and Lady Marguerite Dowty, thence by family descent.

    Notes: Carton-Pierre is effectively a type of papier mache, popularised in the 18th century for its ability to be moulded to create adornments for mirrors or even ceiling cornices, as a cheaper alternative to plaster.

    Final image credit: Office of Robert and James Adam, 'Design for a Pier Glass, 1772, Photo: © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London”.

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    Width Height
    25 58"
    65 cms
    64 58"
    164 cms

    Listed Price: £4,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16191

    The most charming gilt gesso mirrored hanging shelves. The arched mirror plate is beautifully adorned with ferns, convolvulus and foxgloves that are exquisitely modelled around the frame. The rods supporting the three shelves terminate in foxglove flowerheads.

    The shelves embody the Victorian obsession with ferns, in a period known as the 'fern craze'; which saw a widespread fascination in identifying, collecting and cultivating the plant.

    English, mid-19th century.

    Near pair with stock no. 16190.

    Photo before restoration.

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    Width Height Depth
    18 18"
    46 cms
    33 78"
    86 cms
    6 1116"
    17 cms

    Listed Price: £1,100 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16184

    A very ornate Adam style oval girandole mirror. The gilt gesso frame is adorned with a fan and bellflower decoration very much in the Adam style. The mounted triple girandole sconce is of scrolling foliate form and this is echoed in the surmount, where putti hold sprays of laurel over a floral garland.

    English, c.1870.

    Provenance: The Grange Goathland.

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    Height
    47 316"
    120 cms

    Listed Price: £4,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16494

    A fine pair of Florentine giltwood oval wall mirrors. The frames are profusely decorated with acanthus leaves and flowers, and topped with a small crest.
    Original mercury plates.

    Italian, mid-19th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    30 14"
    77 cms
    40 316"
    102 cms
    2 316"
    5.5 cms

    Listed Price: £6,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16471

    A Rococo overmantel mirror in gilt gesso, with a moulded frame that has been beautifully gilded and slightly distressed to reveal the warm red bole underneath. This is surmounted by a Rocaille crest.

    English, late 19th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    41 14"
    105 cms
    64 14"
    163.2 cms
    5 78"
    15 cms

    Listed Price: £2,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16486

    A striking Napoleon III ebonised and parcel gilt mirror, with a bound laurel frame and acanthus corners enclosing marginal plates. The mirror has a beautifully modelled cartouche and laurel surmount.

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    Width Height Depth
    40 58"
    103 cms
    59 38"
    150.8 cms
    3 18"
    8 cms
  • Stock: 16238

    A large Victorian gilt gesso overmantel mirror with gently arched top supported by spiral turned columns and a slender barley twist moulding, with some foliate embellishments.

    Victorian, c.1860.

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    Width Height Depth
    62 78"
    159.7 cms
    62 78"
    159.7 cms
    2 1316"
    7.2 cms

    Listed Price: £3,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16491

    A fine Irish Regency convex mirror. The original convex plate is enclosed within a reeded ebony slip, which is bordered by an ornate giltwood ropetwist frame and mounted with acanthus scrollwork and twin candleholders. Most unusually, the surmount depicts a stag resting under an oak tree.

    Irish, c.1820.

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    Width Height
    24 38"
    62 cms
    38 58"
    98 cms

    Listed Price: £4,600 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Florentine Wall Mirror Reserved

    Stock: 16472

    19th century Florentine gilt gesso wall mirror carved with acanthus scrollwork and an egg and dart border. A very useful size and can be hung portrait or landscape if desired.

    Italian, mid-19th century.

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    Width Height
    34 38"
    87.5 cms
    27"
    68.5 cms
  • Stock: 16469

    A fine George III giltwood and gesso wall mirror in the Chinese Chippendale style. The rectangular mirror plate is enclosed by a delicate frame embellished with c scrolls and trailing garlands, surmounted by a palm leaf pagoda.

    English, c.1765.

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    Width Height
    27 316"
    69 cms
    46 78"
    119 cms

    Listed Price: £7,600 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16317

    A very large and grand Victorian Aesthetic Movement gilt gesso overmantel mirror. The top of the mirror is surmounted by a latticed gallery very much in the Aesthetic Movement taste, with a broken pediment. This is mounted over a bold egg and dart moulding, and supported on slender spindle pilasters with foliate capitals, which enclose foliate spandrels and a silvered plate.

    English, c.1880.

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    Width Height
    62 316"
    158 cms
    71 1116"
    182 cms

    Listed Price: £5,600 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16485

    A very fine George III wall mirror, with a delicate giltwood frame embodying the lightness of the Chippendale style, with slender c scrolls, trailing foliage and an elegant crest. The frame encloses a very foxed mercury plate.

    English, c.1760.

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    Width Height Depth
    External 28"
    71 cms
    46 12"
    118 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms

    Listed Price: £6,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16128

    A fine gilt gesso George III wall mirror with delicate carving. The intricate frame has fine detailing throughout, including a well carved and delicate crest of foliate form and flowering vines and foliage within a framework of c scrolls.
    English, c.1770.

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    Width Height Depth
    21 18"
    53.5 cms
    41 14"
    105 cms
    4 18"
    10.5 cms

    Listed Price: £6,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16468

    A very unusual George III Rococo wall mirror. The giltwood frame is carved with a wonderfully organic design, with foliate flourishes, trailing flowers and fruit, but the most unusual detail being the asymmetrical interlocking c scrolls to the lower portion of the frame.

    English, c.1770.

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    Width Height
    23 58"
    60 cms
    51 58"
    131 cms

    Listed Price: £6,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16258

    A large and ornate gilt gesso Louis XVI style wall mirror with a shield shaped frame, profusely decorated with a bound laurel decoration, with applied floral swags and surmounted by a torchere and quiver crest.

    French, c.1880.

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    Width Height
    55 18"
    140 cms
    28 1116"
    73 cms

    Listed Price: £3,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16473

    A charming eighteenth century wall mirror with an ogee shaped giltwood frame, surmounted by a foliate and floral crest comprising oak leaves and roses. These trail over the scrolled shoulders, the rest of the frame decorated with cross hatching. This encloses a mercury plate.

    Southern French, mid-18th century.

    Provenance: The contents of The Birches, Kingston-upon-Thames

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    Width Height Depth
    19 14"
    49 cms
    38 316"
    97 cms

    Listed Price: £4,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16187

    A very large Victorian gilt gesso overmantel mirror, with ribbed border and floral mounts. The gilding is beautiful, with the warm red bole showing through.

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    Width Height Depth
    45 1116"
    116 cms
    67 78"
    172.5 cms
    3 18"
    8 cms

    Listed Price: £3,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16470

    A pair of ornate French giltwood wall mirrors. The shield shaped frames are ornately worked with acanthus scrolls and enclose marginal plates in mercury glass.

    French, c.1800.

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    Width Height
    22"
    56 cms
    35 1316"
    91 cms

    Listed Price: £2,400 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16442

    A large French overmantel mirror with marginal plates. The gilt gesso mirror has a beautifully bronzed patination to the ornate frame, which encloses the original silvered plate, and the slender marginal plates that surround it. The frame itself is surmounted by a floral and foliate pediment.

    French, mid-19th century,

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    Width Height
    44 18"
    112 cms
    65 38"
    166 cms

    Listed Price: £5,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15964

    A very fine and large giltwood Venetian wall mirror. The frame is surmounted by a floral crest above an oval mirror plate etched with an urn of flowers, and this is supported by foliate scrolls and mirrored spandrels, which are engraved with bunches of grapes. The foliate scrollwork continues around the frame and this encloses eight exquisite marginal plates, each engraved with a slightly different subject, some with a musical theme. The corners are embellished with ruby glass behind an acanthus leaf, and this surrounds the original mercury plate. A very fine and rare mirror.

    Italian, c.1790.

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    Width Height Depth
    48"
    122 cms
    74"
    188 cms

    Listed Price: £9,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16436

    A fine French Napoleon III parcel gilt gesso overmantel mirror, with a large cartouche surmount surrounded by fruit in high relief. The beautifully moulded frame encloses an arched mirror plate.

    French, c.1870.

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    Width Height
    57 18"
    145 cms
    66 78"
    170 cms

    Listed Price: £4,600 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16457

    A beautiful Rococo overmantel mirror, with a foliate frame of ogee form and acanthus surmount, the giltwood leafwork reminiscent of John Linnell.

    English, c.1860.

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    Width Height
    63 38"
    161 cms
    63 1316"
    162 cms

    Listed Price: £5,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16437

    A grand giltwood wall mirror in the manner of Thomas Johnson with a Rococo frame comprising c scrolls and foliate flourishes and surmounted by a ho-ho bird. A detail typical of Thomas Johnson is the inclusion of an animal, and here a goat teeters on a rocky outcrop. Johnson took inspiration from Aesop's fables, and the goat is a creature that featured in several of these tales. Original silvered plate.

    English, c. 1870.

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    Width Height Depth
    39 316"
    99.5 cms
    64 316"
    163 cms
    5 78"
    15 cms

    Listed Price: £6,400 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16126

    A large 19th century Florentine giltwood wall mirror. The frame is boldly carved with acanthus leaves in high relief, and is set with a mercury plate.

    Italian, mid 19th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    37"
    94 cms
    44 1116"
    113.5 cms
    4 1116"
    12 cms

    Listed Price: £6,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16338

    A fine Louis XVI style gilt gesso overmantel mirror. The egg and dart frame encloses marginal plates and is surmounted by an ornate pediment of scrolling foliate decoration.
    Original mercury glass.

    French, mid 19th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    45 14"
    115 cms
    73 316"
    186 cms
    5 78"
    15 cms
  • Stock: 16341

    A large and fine cabaret wall mirror, with a deeply cushioned frame, embossed with a foliate decoration on a stippled ground. A really bold piece that would also work well in a contemporary interior.

    French, mid 19th century. An antique Italian gilded mirror.

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    Width Height Depth
    41 1316"
    106.2 cms
    52 1316"
    134 cms
    2"
    5 cms

    Listed Price: £6,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16165

    A Regency convex girandole giltwood wall mirror in the manner of Thomas Fentham with a reeded ebony slip, surmounted by a spread eagle on a rocky outcrop and flanked by dolphins, with a beautifully modelled hippocampus at the bottom. English, c.1820.

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    Width Height Depth
    27 58"
    70 cms
    43 1116"
    111 cms
    6 14"
    16 cms

    Listed Price: £5,500 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 15748

    A delicate Regency gilt gesso landscape overmantel mirror, in the neoclassical style. The frame borders three original silvered mirror plates, that could be replaced for clearer glass if desired.
    English, c.1815.

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    Width Height
    External 51"
    129.5 cms
    33 12"
    85 cms

    Listed Price: £2,200 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16339

    A boldly carved 18th century Italian Baroque giltwood wall mirror, with a generous shield shaped giltwood frame comprising foliate scrolls and surmounted by a foliate crest.
    Italian, late18th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    33 78"
    86 cms
    50 38"
    128 cms
    2 38"
    6 cms

    Listed Price: £3,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16362

    Large and finely carved Florentine giltwood wall mirror, with a scrolling acanthus leaf frame. A very diverse mirror that can be hung either landscape or portrait.
    Italian, Florence, late 19th century.

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    Width Height Depth
    45 78"
    116.5 cms
    35 1316"
    91 cms
    2 1316"
    7 cms

    Listed Price: £3,800 (+VAT where applicable)

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  • Stock: 16344

    A fine and rare pair of 18th century George III wall mirrors with original mercury plates. Each plate is bordered by a giltwood frame of foliate design woven with c and s scrolls, very much in the Chippendale manner.

    It is very rare to come across such a fine pair of mirrors of this date.
    English, c.1760.

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    Width Height
    26 1316"
    68 cms
    49 58"
    126 cms
106 items

Antique mirrors

There is something alluring about an antique mirror - perhaps the combination of a finely carved frame and the shimmering surface of original glass - that has led to their enduring appeal amongst antique furniture collectors.

A short history of antique mirrors

The earliest mirrored glass was made in Murano in the 16th century, where glass was coated in mercury and tin to create a silver reflective layer on its reverse. This process was a closely guarded secret, and spies were sent from the French court of Louis XIV to Venice to discover the process. Their efforts paid off, and the French became renowned producers in their own right. Antique mirrors were made using mercury glass until other safer methods of manufacture became more widely available in the 19th century.

Earlier antique mirrors also tend to be slightly smaller, or made with separate panels of mirrored glass, as there was not the technology to produce single sheets of large glass until the late 18th century. Only the very wealthy could afford very large panes of glass, so mirrors were objects of prestige and magnificence.

Varieties of antique mirror

Whether an antique wall mirror, an overmantel mirror or a pier mirror, it is often the frame that catches the eye. Particularly fine mirrors are carved from mahogany or rosewood, or gilded using gold leaf, rather than paint. Mirror frames tend to be made of carved wood or carved wood and gesso. They are called giltwood mirrors if a thin layer of gold leaf has been applied over the carved and primed surface. Such mirrors exude quality and vary from bright gold through to a more worn, soft patina. An antique gilded mirror is often deemed more valuable than its wooden counterpart and is seen as a timeless addition to interiors of all styles.

Eras of antique mirror

Antique overmantle mirrors embody the elegance of a period home, and can inject both sophistication and character into an interior. Victorian mirrors often come in overmantel form, as in 19th century England, the mantelpiece was the heart of the home, a space to display precious objects and convey taste. The earlier Regency overmantel mirrors were often horizontal in form and more modest in design. Victorian mirrors were not only gilt, but often carved from wood such as oak, mahogany and rosewood.

In France the overmantel mirror was similarly significant, and in many cases, much taller, utilising the space above the fireplace enabled by higher ceilings and grand rooms. These Antique French mirrors are usually gilded, and wood was not widely used without a gilded adornment.

Often smaller, antique wall mirrors are an excellent thing to hang above a piece of furniture or in a hallway, where they can create the illusion of a larger, lighter space. They are less dominant than an overmantel, and serve a function in rooms such as bedrooms or hallways. If you are looking for an overmantel or any Antique mirrors London is the place to look. Our showroom has numerous options all on display for you to browse, from early Georgian wall mirrors through to large Aesthetic movement overmantels.