Hand mirror
Providence, Rhode Island
1885-1900
Maker
Gorham Manufacturing Company (est. 1831)
Measurements
10 in x 5-1/2 in x 3/4 in
Materials
Silver, mirrored glass
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Mary Corbit Curtis Meacham
Accession Number
2011.203
Inscription
A maker’s mark incorporating an anchor and “STERLING C435” is stamped into a side edge of the mirror frame near the handle. "SCC" in elaborate script is engraved on the back side of the mirror.
Condition Notes
The mirrored glass is loose in the frame. The silver is tarnished.
Provenance
Made for Sara Clark Corbit (1871-1952), the vanity set (accession nos. 2011.203-2011.206), of which this mirror is a part, descended through the family to Daniel Corbit Curtis and Georgia Ball, parents of the donor.
Comments
The hand mirror is richly decorated with repoussé foliated C scrolls. (Repoussé is a silver decorating technique in which the silver is hammered into relief from the reverse and the details sharpened from the decorated surface.) The mirror is part of a vanity set assembled by Sara Clark Corbit. Each of the five objects in the set--this mirror, a hair brush (accession no. 2011.204), a lidded jar (accession no. 2011.205), and a brush and tray (accession no. 2011.206)--is manufactured by a different company, but all are unified by their provenance and by "SCC" initials on the mirror, the hair brush, the jar lid, and the clothes brush tray.
The Gorham Manufacturing Company was sold in 1967, followed by numerous subsequent sales of the company, ending in 2009 in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is now part of the Lenox Corporation.
