VENICE, CIRCA 1720

This mirror, richly decorated with exotic chinoiserie motifs and mother-of-pearl, typifies 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 this example, 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. A related mirror, but a simpler version without cresting, in the Gemâldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin-Dahlem, is illustrated in A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Il Granducato di Toscana e gli Stati Settentrionali, vol.II, Milan, 1986, p.335, ill.714.
A pair of related Venetian mirrors was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 21 June 2000, lot 150 (£196,250), while another mirror was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 5 July 2001, lot 45 (£42,300).