the Lascaux convex mirror

In All, Mirrors by Arif

The Lascaux convex mirror uses a molded wood frame that I finished with a random application of gold and silver metal leaf. Then I took Venetian glass rods in clear and pale gold and rolled them in silver leaf. The rods were layered deeply on the frame. The inner frame is embellished with glass cabochons. The combination of gold and silver gives the frame an almost tortoise shell mottling that is striking. The use of shiny gold and sliver on the frame provides a “backlighting” that shifts the brilliance depending on the light in the room.

The Lascaux mirror is about 17 inches in diameter. It is being sent to my showroom in Atlanta, Ainsworth-Noah( 404-231-8787).

The caves of Lascaux contain paintings on the walls and ceilings that are 17,000 years old. They depict many animals that inhabited that Dordogne of of France at that time: bears, horses, stags, bison and bulls. These paintings are astonishing.

On 12 September 1940, the entrance to the Lascaux Cave was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat when his dog, Robot, fell in a hole. Ravidat returned to the scene with three friends, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas. They entered the cave through a 15-metre-deep (50-foot) shaft that they believed might be a legendary secret passage to the nearby Lascaux Manor. The teenagers discovered that the cave walls were covered with depictions of animals. Galleries that suggest continuity, context or simply represent a cavern were given names. Those include the Hall of the Bulls, the Passageway, the Shaft, the Nave, the Apse, and the Chamber of Felines. They returned along with the Abbé Henri Breuil on 21 September 1940; Breuil would make many sketches of the cave, some of which are used as study material today due to the extreme degradation of many of the paintings. Breuil was accompanied by Denis Peyrony, curator of Les eyzies (Prehistory Museum) at Les Eyzies, Jean Bouyssonie and Dr Cheynier.

The cave complex was opened to the public on 14 July 1948, and initial archaeological investigations began a year later, focusing on the Shaft. By 1955, carbon dioxide, heat, humidity, and other contaminants produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. As air condition deteriorated, fungi and lichen increasingly infested the walls. Consequently, the cave was closed to the public in 1963, the paintings were restored to their original state, and a monitoring system on a daily basis was introduced.

The boys who discovered Lascaux
A view of the Lascaux paintings

Thank you Wikipedia for the above.