Rare frame with octagonal mirror. Executed with the refined églomisé technique, the frame combines gold and silver leaf, translucent and opaque pigments, and gold powder to achieve remarkable optical depth.
Imitating pietra dura inlay, in this case evoking lapis lazuli, tiger's eye, and other semi-precious stones.
Such illusionistic surfaces reflect the intellectual climate of Mannerism around 1600, with its fascination for artifice, rarity, and visual deception.
40 x 40 cm, aperture 15.5 x 13.5 cm
Rome, early 17th century.
