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Object NameMirror with 'Jeweled' Glass Frame
Manufacturer Court Glasshouse
Made FromGlass, Gilding, Woodl, Mercury-Tin Amalgam Mirror
Dateabout 1580-1595
Place Madeprobably Austria, Innsbruck (frame); probably Italy, Venice (mirror)
TechniqueAssembled, gilding
SizeOverall H: 43.2 cm, W: 37.5 cm, D: 3.8 cm
Accession Number2017.3.17
Credit LineGift of the Ennion Society
Curatorial Area(s)
On ViewEuropean Gallery
Interpretive Notes
Almost everything you see on the front of this mirror is made of glass. The mirror was probably made for Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria and Count of Tyrol (1529-1595). Ferdinand belonged to the powerful Habsburg dynasty that ruled over much of Europe. His status enabled him to recruit skilled craftsmen from Venice to work in his private glass workshop – a rare privilege granted by the Venetian government, which closely guarded the secrets of its famous glass making industry. Some of these craftsmen made intricate jewels and chains entirely of glass. The frame around this mirror is an example of this meticulous work.
Physical DescriptionMirror with 'Jeweled' Glass Frame. Mirror glass, colored glass, gilded glass, wood; assembled. The front of the mirror frame is comprised of three principal fields of ornamentation, separated by thin bands of blue glass and each combining glass jewels with finely-wrought and twisted, gold glass threads in imitation of metalwork. The central mirror is set within a narrow, dark-blue glass frame. Each of the long sides is bordered by two parallel green glass canes, separated by finely-twisted, gold glass threads. The upper and lower edges are bordered by three green canes and a similar distribution of twisted, gold glass threads. The four corners are set with a pearl-sized, translucent green glass jewel. The field bordering the canes is the widest. Set within the gold glass threads are circular and oval glass discs, made from fused canes and separated by thicker gold glass scrolls terminating in red glass seeds. The whole design is interspersed with green and red pearl-sized glass 'seeds'. The next field of ornamentation comprises a narrow border of scrolling gold glass threads set with glass 'seeds' in white, blue, green and red. The outermost border is more densely designed with lengths of twisted and gilded glass delineating both its outer and inner edges, and containing pairs of scrolls between a variety of glass jewels which in turn alternate between delicately assembled 'buttons' of glass 'seeds' in different colors and simply set pairs of translucent glass 'seeds'.
Provenance
Source L'Hermite Sylvie-King - 2015-07-2018-08-16
Sylvie l’Hermite King, Paris (July 2015-2017) Acquired from an important aristocratic collection, Belgium (until July 2015)
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