Mirror in carved and gilded wooden leaf. Veneto, mid-18th century.

Carved and gilded wooden mirror. Veneto, Louis XV era and style, mid-18th century. Original mercury mirror.

We are in front of a refined Louis XV mirror, made around 1750-1760, characterized by an elegant carving in the most classic Rococo style. The sculpture reflects all the typical rocaille canons, where a play of slightly asymmetrical volutes, decorated with flowering shoots, is arranged around a mixtilinear mirror, while the apical part is characterized by an irregular, leaf-shaped cartouche.

Although the transition between the Baroque sumptuousness and the graceful lightness of eighteenth-century Rococo had its cradle in France, Italy, thanks to the flourishing commercial exchange with the territories beyond the Alps, soon adapted to this type of carving.

It was Northern Italy in particular (with Venice as the focal point) that was the first to adopt the new imaginative decorative canons. As we can see in our beautiful mirror, characterized by the typical opulence of the Venetian masters, the carvings that give shape to the Rococo frames are, as in the Baroque, rich in scrolls, curls and stylized leaves and flowers

However, they stand out from the latter for their slenderness, lightness and breadth of the perforations which allow a glimpse of the wall below, thus aiding in a soft and elegant chromatic fusion. The lightness of the Rococo decorations, as we can always find, is also supported by an imaginative asymmetry, sometimes imperceptible at first glance, which gives the artefacts that tone of graceful beauty typical of all the arts of the first half of the eighteenth century.

state of conservation: good. Presence of old restorations. Some abrasions and scratches in the gilding. Small defects on the carved part.

Provenance: Emilia, Private Collection.

Certification of authenticity and lawful origin of the furnishing accessory is issued in accordance with the law.