A French Art Nouveau Hammered Pewter Mirror

A French Art Nouveau Hammered Pewter Mirror

The rectangular mirror plate within a broad pewter frame of gently waisted outline, the shaped cresting of serpentine profile rising to a central cartouche of paired C-scrolls above pendant swag motifs, the whole surface of the frame enriched with applied and chased decoration in the full Art Nouveau vocabulary: sinuous whiplash tendrils of organic, free-flowing character tracing the perimeter of the frame, interspersed throughout with applied hemispherical pellets or bosses of varying scale disposed in a loose, asymmetric rhythm. The inner edge defined by a plain raised moulding. T

The reverse with brass fittings. The entire surface in pewter of warm silver-grey tone, the hand-worked surface retaining the subtle texture of the hammer throughout, lending the piece a lively, animate quality entirely consistent with the handcraft philosophy of the period

French, circa 1900