A VICTORIAN PAPIER-MACHE MIRROR

Historian Harriet Hawkes has done much to bring to the fore the historical impact of papier-maché mouldings in architectural situations during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Charles Frederick Bielefeld was an important exponent of papier-maché mouldings and patented a more durable form of the technique which incorporated iron-filings into the mixture - improving durability and resilience. The crispness of the present mirror simulates a carved oak.
The Irish Art union was established in Dublin on the 8th April, 1939 "for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Ireland by the purchase of Works of Living Artists exhibited in the Metropolis".