Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-09-02 | Page 55 | Mirrors Came from Venice and Paris

Mirrors Came From Venice and Paris rpHET say that a man's first thought on entering a room Is, "Where is there, a place to sit down?" but a woman's first thought "is, "Where is there a mirror?" Whether that has always been man's first thought is difficult to state, but it doubtless has been woman's from time immemorial for from time immemorial there have been mirrors. It is only since the beginning of the sixteenth century that mirrors have been used as articles of household furniture fur-niture and decoration, and there are few women of the present day who do not realize and make use of their artistic ar-tistic value in adorning their homes. The mirrors of antiquity were principally princi-pally of bronze, highly polished and about the size of aa -Jia Jiarj- ror. They were usually provided with a handle and sometimes were mounted on a stand. The principal feature of these ancient mirrors was the design incised on the back. They belong to the period about 400 to 500 B. C. During the Middle Ages, from the twelfth to the end of the fifteenth century, cen-tury, picket mirrors or small hand mirrors mir-rors carried at the girdle were considered con-sidered a necessary part of a lady's toilet. The pocket mirrors were small circular circu-lar pieces of polished metal fastened in a circular box and covered with a lid. These mirror cases were made of the costliest of materials and were oftentimes often-times lavishly decorated with jewels. The mirrors carrie:! at the belt had no cases but were provided with short handles. The method of hacking glass with metal for mirrors was well known in the Ti-1-1l. Acx---aci. L ir mirrors were almost exclusively used. Small convex glass mirrors were made in Southern Germany before the beginning begin-ning of the sixteenth century, but it was in Venice that the making of glass mirrors on a commercial scale was first developed. The Venetians guarded their secret jealously and for about a century and a half tha t enterprising republic enjoyed en-joyed the monopoly of the manufacture. By their statutes any glass maker carrying car-rying his art into a foreign country waa ordered to return under pain of imprisonment im-prisonment to his nearest relatives, and if he disobeyed this command he waa followed and slain. Notwithstanding these circumstances the knowledge leaked into France and French mirrors soon excelled in quality the Venetian products. From then on the secret of mirror making became generally known and noon, spread to other countries.