The French style mirror industry began in 1665 when the French politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert persuaded some important Venetian masters to move to France.
That is the story behind French Style Mirrors. This style is different from the Venetian one. It is characterised by a deep grinding and a more geometric design.
A French mirror is in fact made of lots of different bevelled pieces that are close together and create a harmonious geometrical figure. A beautiful example is, an iconic mirror by Arte Veneziana that is made of 412 hand bevelled pieces. The most visible difference between a Venetian and a French mirror is the total absence of hand-blown glass decorations on the latter.
Fretwork structure made of solid fir wood with antique finish. Scratched rough black varnished edges as per traditional artistic style of XVIII century original mirror.
Central oval-shaped part made of bevelled glass with medium antique mirrored finish. Frames with thumbnail-shaped etchings.
Crest made of bevelled and engraved gold coloured glass with medium antique mirrored finish.
Floral motif and shiny spheres engravings. Decorative glass screws.
Our glass masters use different wheels to chamfer and obtain shiny glass pieces that will be used on the mirrors and furniture afterwards.
This is a fundamental step in our production: no machines can replace the manual work on this extremely delicate matter. The bevelling can only be realised with a long and precise handmade procedure.
An ancient engraving manufacturing process which still remains entirely handmade as per Venetian traditions.
