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Making Matters: Masonic symbols on 19th-century French bows

2 May 2025

all seeing eye

The frogs on 19th-century French bows feature several common motifs that recur in the work of several makers. Michel Samson shows how they correspond to the principles of Freemasonry

Ever since I began collecting bows some time in the 1980s, I have wondered about the embellishments on early French bows. Some are mounted in ivory, sometimes with open frogs, sometimes with ferrules and often with ivory buttons. They have very elaborate sunbursts that have a small circle of mother-of-pearl in the centre. These are also referred to as ‘blazing stars’ but they are essentially the same. For a while I wondered if these makers performed this elaborate work themselves or, since all of them were active in Mirecourt, I also speculated that there may have been a speciality Mirecourt manufacturer…

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