image of object
Photo: From "Shop Talk," Antiques 68, no. 3 (September 1955): 184
Click the image to enlarge

Looking glass

Object number

RIF5510

Maker

Maker probably by John Doggett, American, 1780–1857
Painter Samuel Crehore, American, 1789–1811
Retailer Peter Grinnell and Son, active 1809–1828

Dimensions

116.84 x 67.31 cm (46 x 26 1/2 in.)

Date

1810

Current location

Unknown

Geography

Probably made in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Retailed in Providence, Rhode Island
(view a map of Rhode Island)

Medium

Gilded wood; silvered and reverse-painted glass

Marks

"PETER GRINNELL & SON, / PROVIDENCE, / Main-street, PROVIDENCE , opposite the Providence Bank, / OFFER FOR SALE, / A COMPLETE assortment of PAINTS, OIL, WINDOW GLASS, / VARNISHES, and / SHIP-CHANDLERY . . . / ALSO / Looking-Glasses, / framed in the newest and most elegant style, and are warranted to bear the strict- / est examination. . . . . .With every other article usually called for in a Ship-Chand- / lery or Paint Store, as cheap as at any store in the State. / They execute all kinds of / HOUSE, SHIP, SIGN and ORNA MENTAL PAINTING, / polishing and re-silvering old Looking-Glasses, Oil and Burnish-Gilding, in all their various branches. Embroidery, Looking-Glasses and Pictures of every / description, framed with enamelled glasses, as usual. / All orders from [illegible] country punctually attended to, with a liberal allowance / made to those who purchase in quantities.," printed in black ink, on a paper label glued to backboard; "S. Crehore / Augst [st superscript] 27 / 1810," on painted panel

Inscriptions

Unknown

Provenance

Israel Sack, Inc., New York, 1955. Mr. and Mrs. William B. Hysan, Jr., Baltimore, before 1980; consigned to Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, January 30 – February 2, 1980, lot 1616

Associated names

Israel Sack, Inc.
Mr. and Mrs. William B. Hysan, Jr.
Sotheby Parke Bernet

Bibliography

"Shop Talk," Antiques 68, no. 3 (September 1955): 184.
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, Fine Americana, Vol. Two, sale cat. (January 30–February 2, 1980), lot 1616.
Betty Ring, "Peter Grinnell and Son: Merchant-Craftsmen of Providence, Rhode Island," Antiques 117, no. 1 (January 1980): 213, fig. 2, 3.