Swinging Full-Length Brass Psyché Mirror — French Work, Circa 1970

This impressive full-length psyché mirror presents a study in the restrained luxury that characterised the finest French decorative metalwork of the 1970s. The entire structure — two slender uprights crowned with spherical finials, a generous rectangular mirror plate mounted on a central tilting pivot, and an elegantly splayed base with a curved stretcher — is executed in polished brass whose warm golden lustre remains richly intact. The mirror tilts freely on its pivot, allowing the angle of reflection to be adjusted to suit the viewer, a practical refinement that was a defining feature of the classic psyché form from its origins in the nineteenth century through its mid-century revival.

The psyché, or cheval glass, was one of the great inventions of French furniture-making — a mirror large enough to reflect the full figure, freed from the wall and set on its own independent stand. In its 1970s French incarnation, the form shed its traditional carved wood and gilded plaster in favour of tubular metals — brass above all — whose sleek profiles and industrial warmth were perfectly in tune with the decorative ambitions of the era. This example, with its beautifully proportioned uprights and spherical accents, captures that sensibility with particular elegance.

Measuring 59 centimetres in width and 161 centimetres in height, the mirror is of generous full-length scale. The brass retains its warm golden tone throughout, and the mirror plate is clear and undimmed. An object that brings immediate presence and a note of luxurious warmth to any bedroom, dressing room, or entrance hall fortunate enough to receive it.