Resin Sunburst Wall Mirror, French Work, circa 1970

The sunburst mirror is one of the most immediately recognisable decorative forms of the twentieth century interior, and this example in resin belongs to the distinctly French chapter of that story. Radiating rays fan outward from the circular mirror glass to fill a square of 47.5 centimetres, their composition creating a dynamic solar motif that animates the wall with light and movement. In resin — a material that was fully mastered by French decorative designers by the late 1960s — the rays achieve a lightness and a surface precision that distinguishes them from their heavier counterparts in carved wood or gilded plaster, giving the piece a quality at once playful and refined.

The sunburst motif has deep roots in European decorative art. The soleil was the emblem of Louis XIV, the Sun King, whose court at Versailles disseminated the solar symbol across every medium of the decorative arts. Baroque and Rococo craftsmen incorporated radiating sun forms into mirrors, clocks, console tables, and architectural ornaments; the form persisted through the neoclassical period and re-emerged, transformed, in the Art Déco and modernist designs of the twentieth century. In the 1950s and 1960s, the sunburst mirror became a defining accessory of the mid-century interior, embraced by designers from Hollywood Regency to the Parisian avant-garde and appearing in apartments, hotels, and private houses across the Western world.

Resin — synthetic, lightweight, and infinitely mouldable — was the material par excellence of the Space Age aesthetic that dominated French design in the years around 1970. It allowed forms to be created with a crispness and a technical virtuosity impossible in traditional materials, and its surface could be finished in a range of effects from matte to high gloss, from naturalistic to frankly artificial. A resin sunburst mirror of this period occupies the intersection of craft tradition and material modernity: the form as old as Versailles, the medium as new as the moon landings.

In good condition. This mirror would make a strong decorative statement in a hallway, above a console table, or in any interior where a burst of reflected light is welcome. Its relatively intimate scale — 47.5 centimetres across including rays — makes it suitable for a variety of wall positions without requiring the generous proportions of a grander room. Diameter: 47.5 cm. Depth: 1.5 cm.