What is a pier mirror?
I am a newbie, anxious to learn. An open house I visited had a very nice piece in their living room, a large carved wood door-sized frame, with a mirror in it. It was placed under a molding on a part jutting out from the wall that looked like it might once have had a…
I am a newbie, anxious to learn.
An open house I visited had a very nice piece in their living room, a large carved wood door-sized frame, with a mirror in it. It was placed under a molding on a part jutting out from the wall that looked like it might once have had a gas fireplace. The effect was lovely, and gave an impression that there is another room through it.
see the two middle photos at:
http://www.warrenlewis.com/cgi-bin/re/re_show.pl?re_command=show&ID=5210
Is this called a pier mirror? What were pier mirrors originally used for?
Where can I find something like this?
Many thanks.
A great place to buy one is from Ed, no name on shop, but he is in Clinton Hill on Greene betw. Grand and Classon. He has all kinds of cool salvage in there, basically you have to rummage thru stuff but if you tell him what you want,even if he doesn’t have it, believe me he will find it for you. Real nice guy.
Thanks for the info!
An entry on Wilkipedia said they were used for the narrow space between the window and door, but I don’t quite see that — your info makes much more sense.
So I’m off to Ebay — thank you!
I, too, was curious as to the origin of “pier” mirrors, and I found this on Google (what else?): “The pier mirror is so called because of the custom of placing it against a pier, or wall space between windows.”
Pier mirrors are floor to ceiling mirrors most often found in the formal parlours of mid to late Victorian homes. They usually have very ornate frames, which often mirrors (pardon the pun) the trim found on the mantles, or woodwork, although not always. Most often they also have a shelf about 2 or three feet from the floor, and often that shelf is supported by very ornate carved brackets, often griffons and lions, or ornately carved capitals. The mirror frames on the later houses are usually fine wood, such as mahagony or cherry. The earlier mirrors from the mid 1800’s are often gilt plaster, which echoes the rococo styles of plasterwork often found on the ceilings of these houses.
What were they for? – impressing people, mostly, as they were installed in the formal parlours where guests would see them. Of course a nice full sized mirror always comes in handy to see oneself too.
The mirror in your link looks like it was added later. Here’s another link for a massive pier mirror:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7411200141
As you can see, they are expensive. I’ve seen them in Atlantic Ave antique shops, and often the frames without the mirror show up in salvage places. You could always buy a new mirror at a glass supplier. And of course Ebay has lots of them, you should look at their listings to get a good idea of what they are going for, and what the styles look like.
I confess, I don’t know where the name came from, but hope this information helps.