1886 Victorian Aesthetic Movement Ebonised & Gilt Overmantel Mirror

An exceptional, entirely original Victorian Aesthetic Movement overmantel mirror. Circa September 1886.

This piece captures the 1880s "art for art's sake" philosophy, swapping heavy Victorian clutter for sharp architectural lines, rich ebonized wood, and fine gold leaf accents.

The Details:
• Asymmetric tiered galleries designed for displaying fine porcelain.
• A crisp gesso frieze of classical rosettes highlighted in original gold leaf.
• Hand-painted floral panels framing multi-plate bevelled glass.
• Rests on its original, intact black porcelain ball feet.
• The glass has a beautiful, light amount of honest vintage foxing.

The Provenance:
While cleaning up the back, we removed the original pine backing boards and found a literal time capsule. The cabinetmaker used newspapers from September 1886 as protective padding. There are actually more unread clippings still sealed deep inside the frame cavities that haven't seen light in 140 years.

The fragments we can read tell three wild stories from the exact week this mirror was built:
• Killaloe, County Clare: A rare Irish clipping covering a tense agrarian murder inquest held by coroner Eli Frost after a local laborer was ambushed at night.
• London: An Evening News fragment (Sept 10, 1886) reporting on a massive high-society scandal at Bow Street Police Court, where Lord Lonsdale sued a newspaper for libel over an affair with theatre star Violet Cameron.
• Surrey: A piece from September 3, 1886, covering a coroner's inquest at the Windsor Castle pub into a local woman's death during a severe late-summer heatwave.

Dimensions:
142cm Wide × 146cm High

Collection only due to size and fragility. Serious offers welcome.