Vintage Barbola Mirrors

Vintage Barbola Mirrors on Frames

1. Beveled Edge
2. Floral Detail 
3. Circa 1920

Dimensions:

Small 8" wide 9" tall 

Large 10" wide 12" tall 

"Barbola is gesso work decoration common to lots of items including fire screens, trinket boxes and cigarette holders. According to Lidy Baars of French Garden House, gesso paste was used as a lighter, cheaper substitute for carved wood.

‘Carving was labour intensive and costly, it was also very heavy,’ Lidy explains in an article on Barbolas for eBay.

‘Gesso is a paste made by mixing whiting with size or glue to a mouldable consistency, which will dry hard. It’s a very old form of decoration.”

Barbola mirrors were hugely popular in England at the turn of the last century but – with the delicate flowers being susceptible to damage – they are relatively scarce and highly collectible."(Expert from the blog jollyvolly.co.uk)