Antique Renaissance Revival Walnut Pediment Mirror, c. 1870–1885
Viridian Eclection
The Piece
A large architectural wall mirror in walnut, fifty eight inches high by forty one wide, built as a piece of classical facade rather than as a frame. It is composed the way a building front is composed, from the ground up. A plain base rail carries a single applied disc at its centre. From it rise two pilasters, each faced with a flat shaped panel outlined by a routed bead, and each capped by a block of tight vertical reeding standing in for a capital. Across the top runs a full entablature with a projecting cornice, and beneath that cornice a course of dentils, twenty odd small square blocks marching the width of the piece.
Above the cornice the pediment breaks open. Two raked triangular sections rise toward the centre and stop short, and into the gap between them is set a rectangular plinth with its own moulded cap, the arrangement a Roman architect would recognise and a Victorian cabinetmaker used because it reads as authority from across a room. Each raked section holds a recessed triangular panel. Flanking the whole at the lower corners are shaped drops terminating in tight carved volutes, and applied to the crest is a shield shaped ornament cut with a deep double routed outline.
The mirror plate is present and shows the mottling and edge loss of long exposure. The surface of the walnut is dry throughout, the old finish largely gone, and the timber reads warm brown with the grain raised and open.
History & Provenance
The style is Renaissance Revival, and it is worth being precise about that, because these are frequently offered as earlier than they are. American taste in the 1850s ran to Rococo Revival: serpentine curves, naturalistic carved fruit and flowers, cabriole forms, nothing straight if it could be made to bend. This mirror has none of that. It is rectilinear, symmetrical and architectural, and it borrows its whole vocabulary from classical building: pediment, entablature, dentils, pilasters, capitals. That is the Renaissance Revival manner, which took hold in America in the middle 1860s, dominated through the 1870s, and gave way to Eastlake and then to Colonial Revival by the later 1880s.
The making supports it. The applied ornaments are flat shaped panels with routed outlines rather than carved relief, which is the signature economy of the 1870s, when machine routing let a factory apply decoration a carver would have taken hours over. The dentil course is a milled strip. The mouldings are run rather than worked by hand.
One note offered plainly rather than buried. A nail visible at the back of the mirror backing is a round shanked wire nail with a disc head. Wire nails entered American production around 1875 and displaced cut nails through the 1880s and 1890s. That nail sits in a backing strip, which is the component on a mirror most likely to have been replaced at some point in a hundred and fifty years, so it may well date a repair rather than the frame. It is recorded here because a buyer should have it, and because the style already places the piece in the same window rather than earlier.
Product Details
| Era | c. 1870–1885. Dated on style and construction: a Renaissance Revival architectural composition of broken pediment, dentilled entablature, pilasters and reeded capitals, executed with machine run mouldings and flat applied ornament cut by router, all of which belong to the American Renaissance Revival period rather than to the Rococo Revival taste of the 1850s. A round wire nail in the backing indicates work of 1875 or later at that point, and may represent a later repair |
| Form | Architectural wall or overmantel mirror with broken pediment and central plinth |
| Material | Walnut, with milled dentil course and applied routed ornament |
| Glass | Original plate present, with mottling, clouding and loss to the backing consistent with age |
| Dimensions | 58 in. high by 41 in. wide |
| Condition | Structurally sound but unrestored, and offered as a restoration piece. Losses to the recessed triangular panels within the pediment, with one section open to the ground. Damage and partial loss to applied ornament on one pilaster. A break at the lower corner drop. Old finish largely gone, timber dry throughout with raised grain and surface soiling. Splits and old nail and screw holes present. Mirror plate original with significant silvering loss. Cleaned and waxed, or refinished, it would present very differently; it is priced as found and not as restored |
Why It Belongs in Your Home
Scale is the argument. At nearly five feet tall and better than three wide this is not a mirror you hang among other things, it is the thing the wall is arranged around, over a mantel, at the head of a stair, or leaned against a wall in a room with the height to take it. The dry unrestored walnut is the other argument. Against plaster or a dark paint it reads as salvaged architecture rather than as furniture, which is a harder and more interesting look than a polished frame, and one that a great many people now pay a restorer to fake. This one has not been faked and has not been touched.
Every piece is packed with professional-grade materials: multiple foam layers, double-boxing, directional and fragile handling labels. For large furniture we use custom timber crating. We photograph packing before dispatch and can provide images on request.
White-glove delivery is complimentary within 100 miles of Reno, NV. National shipping quotes provided at checkout. All shipments are photographed and documented. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; we provide all documentation needed to support your claim.
Local pickup is available at Viridian HQ (Reno, NV) with 2–4 days notice. Contact us to arrange. Private viewings also available.
All antique and vintage items are sold as described and all sales are final. Each listing includes detailed condition notes and photographs so you can make a fully informed decision. We encourage buyers to ask questions — about condition, dimensions, finish, provenance — before purchasing.
Antiques are irreplaceable and one-of-a-kind. Carrier handling is outside our control once a piece has left our facility, and major carriers including FedEx do not insure antiques. We do everything within our power to ensure safe transit, but cannot accept liability for carrier damage. If damage occurs in transit, we will provide full documentation to support your carrier claim.
Have a question? — we're happy to provide additional photos, condition detail, or discuss the piece directly.
