Absolutely gorgeous & rare antique Victorian era French Black Forest style hand carved walnut 12 1/8"tall vanity or boudoir mirror with ornate grapes, vines, branches & foliage, tassel tied top, original overly thick & heavy mirror and easel stand! Isn't this one beautiful! Marvelous carving, the detail is truly remarkable. Entirely hand carved into what appears to be walnut, a hard wood in any event with an attractive aged patina or finish and immense visual & decorative appeal. The construction is also quite elaborate, you can see inset dovetail style joints from the sides and back. I removed the backing to clean the mirror and noticed that the work has even been signed by the sculptor/carver. Hidden just under the wood back panel on the bottom end and appears to read "Pretre B". Simply fabulous!
Very good condition. There are slight visible separations at the four joints where the wood pieces come together, as you can see in the images. Some darkened marks to the mirror's silvering but no chips or cracks (a new mirror could easily be cut so there are no marks but the mirror you see is original and I was amazed to find that it's around 1/2" thick ¦). If you look closely at the bottom, you can see where branch tips at each side and the center have been chipped down some, they likely would have extended a bit and acted as feet but it does stand steady as it is now. See pictures for measurements.
