PROBABLY GENOA OR SOUTH GERMAN, CIRCA 1730-1740

The mirror offered here was most likely part of a wall paneling and as such was conceived with a matching console table or commode. Originally probably polychrome-painted and parcel-gilt, it would have been incorporated into an interior with equally refined and colorful stuccowork that would have matched the mirror’s carved decoration. Of all the Italian states, the Republic of Genova is the most known for such colorful interiors that were often adorned with polychrome-painted floral decoration highlighted with putti, rocaille motifs, and fantastical creatures. A good example of such an interior is the Gallerie delle Stagioni at the Villa Della Rovere in Albisola Superiore and rooms of the Villa Faraggiana in Albisola see E. Colle, Il Mobile Rococò in Italia, Milan, 2003, p. 248 and p. 252, respectively. Mirrors and picture frames were often incorporated seamlessly into lavish stuccowork as seen in the same villa, see ibid. p. 274., and were many times supplemented by furniture decorated equally colorfully. For examples of polychrome-painted Genovese furniture, including consoles with en suite mirrors, see L. Canonero, Barocchetto Genovese, Milan, 1964, figs. LXXXIII, XCII, and XCVI. The dragons found in the cresting of the present mirror can also be found in Genovese mirrors of this period, including one in the Palazzo Rosso, one in the Palazzo Reale, and another in the Palazzo Spinola, all in Genova, see Colle, pp. 268-269. However, dragon figures were also very popular among south German designers and craftsmen of the time and it is possible that this mirror was manufactured for one of the courts in Ansbach, Munich or Bayreuth, where interiors were conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk with furnishings, wall paneling, and stuccowork made following a single artistic program or idea.