A memorial to George Washington tops this resplendent New York looking glass. Using the reverse-glass painting technique, the image is rendered in gold against icy blue and white paint on the back of the glass. The delicately carved check frame is crowned with a pair of reverse-glass painted pyramidal crest elements centered by a richly gilded eagle perched on a plinth with a reverse-glass painted base. The back of the mirror itself may have been silvered with a tin/mercury mixture – and early technique that rarely survives. Such mirrors are remarkably fragile.