Venetian mirror in lacquered and gilded wood with mother-of-pearl inserts

Extraordinary mirror in carved, lacquered and gilded wood. Slightly rounded band with leaf decorations in polychrome lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlays, carved and foliated friezes at the corners, shaped, rounded, gilded cymatium also with mother-of-pearl inserts.

Era: early 18th century

Origin: Venice water

Material: lacquered, gilded wood and original mother-of-pearl inserts

Style: Louis XIV

Lacquer - mother of pearl manufacturing
Within the European context, the very refined combination of lacquer and mother-of-pearl which, in the transition between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, established itself in furnishings as a refined and highly effective decorative solution, is to be considered a main prerogative of Venice. Domenico Rossetti (Venice, 1650 - Verona, 1736) was famous in those years for "Chinese and mother-of-pearl works", an eclectic architect, engraver, carver and inlayer, who in Venice had created "a room in the house of Angelo Nicolosi, great chancellor, with various Chinese works, paints, carvings and mother-of-pearl inserts: admirable work for the charity of the invention and execution". That Venetian workshops specialized in such fine inlay work on dark lacquered backgrounds is confirmed, among other things, by the Crucifix in the churches of San Fantin, San Zaccaria and Santo Stefano. Mother-of-pearl inserts also finish the sumptuous wooden framework of the Madonna del Rosario in the Church of the Gesuati, a work from the early 18th century for which there is a preparatory drawing by Andrea Brustolon. The precious mirror frame illustrated in figure 15 of "Le lacche dei Veneziani" by C. Santini should be almost contemporary. A similar construction characterizes, in a slightly later period, the Mirror from the Castelbarco Albani collection in Milan, published by Levy, just as a frame from the Civic Museum of Trieste and another preserved in the Nàrodni Galerie in Prague. From a strictly iconographic-ornamental point of view, these last pieces, which include the concise expressive elegance of the products released by the "Chinese-style painters" at the beginning of the eighteenth century, fully fall within the first period of chinoiseries, which ended, more or less, within the first decade of the 18th century.

?Comparative bibliography: The lacquers of the Venetians. C. Santini; Mille Mobili Veneti C. Santini; Levy, II, 1967, plate 239. :

Details:
The upper part
Unlike other similar examples, in this case the cymatium, like the frame, is decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays from the period.

Reference bibliography
As a useful comparison it is possible to see on page 23, figure 15, of Clara Santini's book, "Le Lacche dei veneziani", a Venetian mother-of-pearl mirror very similar to ours.

Original mirror
The mirror is original from the 18th century and coeval with the frame and cymatium which are also original from the 18th century.

Measurements and materials
Materials: carved, lacquered and gilded wood. Contemporary mother-of-pearl inlays.
Measures: h: 116 x w: 73 cm