A name applied to any polished surface which gives images of objects by reflection. Mirrors of silver have been found in Egypt about five thousand years old, and metallic mirrors were still used in the Middle Ages. The first glass mirrors were made in Venice, and from early in the fourteenth century Venice and Murano enjoyed a monopoly in Europe until the beginning of the seventeenth century. Sir Robert Mansel in 1615 obtained a patent in England for making looking-glasses, but the industry did not meet with much success until the Duke of Buckingham established his glass works at Vauxhall about 1670. Mirrors soon afterwards formed important featutes in interior decoration, and were frequently enriched by bevelled edges, engraving, and elaborate frames such as those of Grinling Gibbons, the carved and gilded ones of the "Architect" designers, the rococo ones of Chippendale, and those of the later schools. In the meantime, in the reign of William and Mary, toilet mirrors with swivelled glass were made for the table or chest of drawers or low-boy, sometimes with drawers underneath, and this form of detached mirror or cheval glass continued to be made during the whole of the eighteenth century.