18th century, Louis XVI, Naples, Mirror

18th century, Louis XVI, Naples

mirror

Gilded wood and mercury mirror, 138 x 80 cm

Light, 59 x 44 cm

This refined mirror, a masterpiece of 18th-century Neapolitan cabinetmaking, embodies the elegance and majesty of the Louis XVI style. The richly carved and gilded frame features a harmonious and symmetrical design, characterized by tastefully intertwined floral and leaf motifs. At the center of the cornice, a highly effective sculptural composition depicts a rich scroll that culminates in a decorative element in the shape of a stylised flower, a symbol of refinement and opulence. The edges of the mirror are adorned with a series of small scrolls and a delicate beaded border, which give the work an air of lightness and refinement. The uniform and brilliant golden patina enhances the beauty of the sculptures and gives the object an aura of preciousness.

The Louis XVI style, which developed in France during the reign of Louis XVI (1774-1792), represents one of the most refined and sophisticated expressions of neoclassical taste. Characterized by simple and pure lines, balanced proportions and a rich decoration based on geometric and floral motifs, this style stands out for its sober elegance and attention to detail. The shapes are essential and geometric, inspired by ancient art, while the decorations are often inspired by nature, with the use of garlands, festoons, rosettes and leaf motifs.

The mirror in question is a perfect example of this style: its simple and pure lines, balanced proportions, floral decorations and gilded patina are all typical elements of the Louis XVI taste. This work, the fruit of the skill of a skilled cabinetmaker, embodies the ideal of beauty and refinement that characterized the aristocracy of the 18th century.

Further underlining its extremely high quality is the mercury mirror inside. The mercury mirror, precursor of modern silver mirrors, is a fascinating testimony to human ingenuity and technological evolution. The technique for obtaining the reflective surface by depositing mercury on top of a series of carefully smoothed layers of tin placed preliminarily on the glass surface allowed to revolutionize the mirror market.

The first examples made with this technique date back to the sixteenth century and were the result of research by Venetian glass masters. The quality of the mirrors thus obtained was so superior to that permitted by previous technologies that the Serenissima kept the manufacturing process secret. Despite the threat of very severe penalties, there were still leaks of information, so much so that already in the seventeenth century in France mercury mirrors were being made, although of lower quality than the Venetian one. The famous Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles is decorated with hundreds of mercury mirrors made at the Saint-Gobain factory, a famous glassworks that still today, under the same name, produces glass and crystal for the most diverse uses. The mercury mirror gave way in the nineteenth century to the mirror in which the reflective effect was obtained through the use of tin and aluminum, thanks to the invention of the German chemist Justus von Liebig.