Distressed French Trumeau with Cottage Scene

• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
• Rosette - A stylised circular-shaped disk with turned or carved decoration decoration applied to a surface, or carved into the surface, especially used in ceramics, jewellery, furniture, sculpture and textiles. Also known as a boss or a paterae or patera.
• Roundel - A roundel is a circular disk, medallion or border on a plate or dish, on an object of furniture. A plate or dish will often have a central circular bordered decoration, termed a roundel. In furniture the word is often used instead of the word 'patera' to describe a turned circular decoration. In recent times use of the word has expanded to encompass any circular area on an object.
• Distressed - Usually applied to describe the condition of an item of furniture, and means that the object is extremely worn and is verging on being unsuitable for its intended use, without some restoration or repairs being undertaken.
  
  Furniture can also be artificially distressed, by deliberate infliction of superficial damage to make it appear old. Artificial distressing can be done with the object of deceiving a purchaser, where the object is being passed off as "of the period", or can be done for aesthetic reasons so that a new object is made to appear as though it has been in use.
• Trumeau - A trumeau mirror is usually rectangular in shape, with a decorative painted panel above the mirror. Most antique trumeau mirrors are highly ornate and often gilded.
  
  They were originally manufactured in France in the 18th century, but became popular agina in the Regency period and in the 1950's.
  
  Trumeau mirrors were originally intended to hang on a wall between windows, providing a decorative element and bringing more light to the room.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• mirrors, wall, period, age or style - French 663
• trumeau (wall mirrors) 54