THE MIRRORS QING DYNASTY, THE FRAMES CIRCA 1760

The practice of painting on mirrors developed in China after 1715 when the Jesuit missionary Father Castiglione arrived in Beijing. He found favor with the Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong and was entrusted with the decoration of the Imperial Garden in Beijing. He learned to paint in oil on glass, a technique that was already practiced in Europe but which was unknown in China in 1715. Chinese artists, already expert in painting and calligraphy, took up the practice, tracing the outlines of their designs on the back of the plate and, using a special steel implement, scraping away the mirror backing to reveal glass that could then be painted. Glass paintings were made almost entirely for export, fueled by the mania in Europe for all things Chinese. Although glass vessels had long been made in China, the production of flat glass was not accomplished until the 19th century. Even in the Imperial glass workshops, set up in Beijing in 1696 under the supervision of the Bavarian Jesuit Kilian Stumpf, window glass or mirrored glass was not successfully produced. As a result, from the middle of the 18th century onwards, when reverse glass painting was already popular in Europe, sheets of both clear and mirrored glass were sent to Canton from Europe. They most often depicted bucolic landscapes, frequently with sumptuously dressed Chinese figures at leisurely pursuits. Once in Europe the best were often placed in elaborate giltwood Chippendale or Chinoiserie frames.
The subject most frequently depicted in Chinse reverse glass paintings is young, beautiful women. This was not brought about by the new medium, but rather was traditional in Chinese painting. The present lot shows variations of this motif, and iterations of the women depicted here are seen across many Chinse reverse glass paintings, suggesting their origin is from a popular story or perhaps a European engraving or miniature. Indeed, the 'shepherdess' with the straw hat and the Shepard's crook seated on a rock beside another young woman shown in mirror A is probably inspired by a painting in the Imperial Palace of Beijing attributed to Jesuit artists at the court of Emperor Qianlong. Said painting depicts a very similar young woman to the 'shepherdess', as she too wears a straw hat and related clothes. Furthermore, she is seated on a rock at the foot of a tree and has a basket of flowers, which is similar to the composition seen in mirror B. Evidently, this painting was used as a source and repeated by reverse glass painters, likely evolving over time and enduring inevitable stylistic variations depending on the artist (T. Audric, Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 1720-1820: An Artistic Meeting between China and the West, Thesis, 2020).
?A pair of Chinese export mirror paintings with seemingly identical frames were with Ronald Phillips, London and published in his 2010 catalogue, pps. 204-205. A drawing of a mirror with the same frame was illustrated in Mallett's 1905 book, An Introduction to Old English Furniture (p. 99, pl. 102).