Looking Glass

DateCa. 1770

Labeled by Hosea Dugliss

MediumWalnut with gilding, spruce (Picea, spp, by micro id) and glass

DimensionsOH: 77"; OW: 31"

Credit LineBequest of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hennage

Object number1990-301

DescriptionLooking glass, carved and parcel-gilded walnut frame with an elaborately carved and gilded broken scroll pediment with rosettes ending in leaf-form pendants and centering a spread-winged figure of a phoenix bird perched on a stylized tree, the scrollboard with incised leaf-and flower-filled giltwood urn above a two-part rectangular mirror plate within a gilded slip, fruit and leaf fillets flanking, the shaped pendant within a giltwood border decorated at the center with incised gilded sprigs of leafage.
Label TextThis looking glass was made in England about 1770, but New York artisan Hosea Dugliss’s label (on the back) suggests he repaired it in that city between 1832 and 1848. A very similar looking glass in the Mount Vernon collection has a history of ownership by John Van Rensselaer of Newark, New Jersey, descendant of an elite colonial New York family. The presence of two such similar looking glasses in New York by the early 19th century suggests both were owned there when new in the 1770s.
Inscribed"L", "GR", and date "August 1770 [or possibly 1790]" in ink script on backboard.
MarkingsPaper label printed "Hosea Dugliss,/ Looking Glass/ Manufacturer,/ 11 Chatham Row,/ Between Ann Street and/ the Park Theater,/ NEW-YORK."
ProvenanceJoe Kindig, Jr. & Son, York, Pennsylvania;
Reginald M. Lewis, Easton, Maryland;
Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, Detroit, Michigan;
Purchased by donor from Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc. New York in 1988

Exhibition(s)