LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

These magnificent mirrors, richly decorated with exotic chinoiseries and mother-of-pearl, typify the fascination Venetian craftsmen had for the alluring products of the Orient, made available through Venice's extensive trade contacts with the East. A Venetian mirror in the National Gallery, Prague, with closely related delicate japanned decoration in combination with mother-of-pearl inlay, but without the exuberant giltwood crestings of these examples, is illustrated in H. Huth, Lacquer of the West, Chicago, 1971, figs, 103-4, while a mirror with similar japanned cartouches to the cresting is illustrated in G. Child, World Mirrors, London, 1990, p. 261, fig. 548.