This mirror shows a jester dancing under a canopy. In the early 18th century, jesters and mirrors often appeared in allegories of vanity, symbolizing human folly.
Place Made
Sweden, Stockholm
Physical DescriptionReverse Painted Mirror. Frame: carved, polished, gessoed, gilded; glass panels: cast, rolled, polished, painted, silvered. The rectangular plate glass mirror is set in an ornate, carved, gessoed and gilded wood framework. The frame surrounding the looking glass is decorated with narrow mirror panels, which are painted on the reverse with detailed, polychrome garlands. Surmounting the mirror is an elaborately carved pediment, consisting of symmetrical scrollwork embellished with acanthus leaves and a pair of flower vases. The central glass panel fitted into this pediment is decorated with a baroque cartouche of a jester dancing under a canopy. This panel is flanked by two others painted with cornucopias; the one above depicts a bird surrounded by floral sprays and holding a berry in its beak. The flanking panels below show a pair of putti holding flower baskets and floral sprays. Provenance
Provenance information not currently available online. Please check back in the coming weeks.
