Looking Glass

By its history, this extraordinary looking glass belonged to John Cogswell (1738-1818) and his wife Abigail Gooding (1740-1782). After the British Army evacuated Boston in 1776, a newly formed committee under the Massachusetts House of Representatives began to seize and auction the contents of estates abandoned by Loyalists. John and Abigail attended one of these auctions and purchased this looking glass, which descended in the family.

The size and style of this looking glass, with its mirror glass paneling, makes it a rare and uncommon survival from colonial New England.

Throughout its history, the looking glass underwent numerous rounds of conservation treatment. The original reflective surface, made with tin-mercury amalgam, was re-silvered in the nineteenth century. Several of the mirrored border panels were repaired and the bottom central mirror pane was replaced.

Further testing and analysis suggests the looking glass was made in Europe, probably Germany, in the mid-eighteenth century. Its original owner was likely someone with tremendous wealth and influence to transport such a fragile and expensive item to America.