Hepplewhite Pier Glasses

Pier glasses mirrors were hung between the windows of formal reception rooms and were made to "fill the pier" and almost touched the tables underneath them. As a result their wood frames were tall and rectangle shaped and Hepplewhite usually adorned the tops and bottoms of the frames with carved crestings of spread eagles, urns, wreaths, pendent husks, festoons of drapery, and rounded foliate scrolls.

Pier glasses such as these were expensive items.

¶ Four pier glasses, a great variety of patterns may be invented. The frames to glasses are almost invariably of good carved work, gilt and burnished. Six designs for square glasses are here shown, which is the shape most in fashion at this time: they should be made nearly to fill the pier. Plate 118 contains two designs for glasses of the newest fashion, proper to be placed over chimney pieces, sofas, etc., they must be fixed very low. The panels of the sides are frequently made of various coloured glass.

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