Bell and Tucker

Fine Art Restoration- Marie Antoinette Mirror

Imagine spending a year of your life managing the building process of your dream home. Painstakingly choosing each fixture, each paint color, each piece of cabinetry. Then imagine it is finally all completed and you move in with every treasure you had ever collected only to have it burn to the ground within a week. This was the tragic story of one of our clients. As they were picking through the rubble they discovered a priceless Marie Antoinette Mirror from the 1700′s had sustained considerable damage. They were able to salvage the mirror and its 32 pieces and parts.

Over the course of ten months, Bell and Tucker- faux artisans worked to restore the mirror to it’s original condition and beauty. The Mirror frame arrived separated from the crown elements.

Luckily, the body of the mirror frame was solid.

The crown elements were badly damaged. Some parts of the crown ornaments were missing.

Elements for mounting of the crown were missing too.

The ornaments were made of traditional stucco. Some surfaces were covered with traditional gesso approximately 2mm thick, (calcium carbonate powder and organic adhesive probable fish-eye glue), then with a very thin layer of dark ocher bole. Those surfaces were gilded and silvered using the water gilding technique. Others were decorated with imitation gilding probably using schlag metal foil and some oil size technique.

We used a combination of oil gilding, on deeply moulded sections and water gilding, on smooth surfaces.

As in the days of Marie Antoinette we applied both methods on the mirror frame in order to create contrast in the brilliance of the finished piece restored to her previous glory.

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