30 
House & Garden 
From the time of William and 
Mary comes this unusual speci¬ 
men of painted Chinese mirror in 
a walnut frame. This example 
and the others are from the col¬ 
lection of Francis Harper 
PAINTED CHINESE MIRRORS 
Some Exquisite Examples of Oriental Artistry Fashionable in the Reigns of 
the Georges and Now Enjoying Renewed Popularity 
WEYMER MILLS 
T HE middle of the 18th Century brought 
into the full glare of Fashion the soft 
flickering light of the painted Chinese 
mirror—the thing that was half a landscape 
or garden of allurement—a dream vision that 
gave the passing fair only a glimpse of a 
smile, a Vermillion blush, or an eager eye. 
The Lady of Quality and her attendant dilet¬ 
tante—the Horace Walpoles and the lesser 
Horaces—suddenly came upon a new Oriental 
whim. Some delightful maniac lost in a maze 
of the artistic expression called “Chinese 
Taste” found a Chinese painted mirror at 
“the Chaney Ware House,” and straightway 
the horde, dubbed barbarians by the Celestial 
Empire, sent to yellow traders the said bar¬ 
barians designated by the same appellation, 
and London shook its feathers before re¬ 
flectors that held sprays of sacred blossoms, 
strange gardens and gorgeous birds and but¬ 
terflies. A mirror that mingled one’s vision 
with color was an enchanting novelty. And 
the beauty of the colors is still held by the 
little toys of yesterday. In Chinese terms we 
read of them as “liquid dawn grey,” “cucum¬ 
ber rind green,” “blue of the sky after rain,” 
“bright blue of the kingfisher’s wing,” “shell 
yellow,” “wax white” and “red of ripe 
cherry” or “fresh blood.” 
These mirrors beloved by the modish who 
perused each book on “Chinese Taste” as it 
saw the light—those scarce volumes on dec¬ 
oration by Thomas Johnson, Edwards and 
Darley, Ince the favorite of Marlborough and 
the Halfpennys have reached, after two cen¬ 
turies, a prodigious market value. The room 
One of the finest Georgian examples of this Celestial art shows a 
royal huntsman returning to his pavilion. This mirror has sapphire 
blue water and a sapphire sky. It is hung in a dining room that 
is papered in pale mauve, a fitting environment for such a treasure 
