As our tour of my gorgeous home continues, I thought I’d take the opportunity to educate my followers with a HISTORY lesson. You know, we royal types love to revisit days gone by.
But first, a Back to School Quiz:
A Trumeau Mirror is:
A) A mirror that speaks the truth to persons reflected in its glass
B) A mirror originally manufactured in the town of Trumeau, Arkansas
C) A wall mirror that takes its name from the French word that designates the space between two windows.
The answer, my tender pupils is, of course, C!
Pronounced Troo-Moh, these mirrors were originally manufactured in France in the 18th Century and intended to be hung between windows, providing a decorative element and bringing more light into a room. These mirrors are almost always rectangular and most often include a decorative portion at the top with the mirror below. Sometimes the decoration is a scenic painting but can also be ornate molding or gilding. My ancestors, the English, preferred to refer to them as ‘Pier glass.’
To me, a trumeau is the perfect wall decoration. It allows you to enjoy a beautiful painting or embellishment AND, at the same time, a chance to check that one’s hair is in place–always a necessity when you have as much hair as I do!
If you’ll notice in the trumeau in my home, there is a spaniel getting disciplined by his human. How undignified! But, it is of the same coloring as I, referred to as Blenheim, after the type of dogs kept at the 1st Duke of Marlborough’s estate of the same name. So, I allow it as an homage to my forefathers.
If they could only see me now…