Ebony and hardstone mirror, Florence, 17th century

Rare tabernacle frame in ebony veneer, bronze, and hardstone.
It features an architectural pediment in the form of an aedicule, with two side sections supporting gilded bronze cherubs and a triangular central section adorned with an octagonal agate medallion.
Below, a frieze of small bronze rosettes and two small lapis lazuli cabochons delineate the pediment frame.
The reserve bordering the mercury mirror is also decorated with small hardstone cabochons (lapis lazuli, carnelian, rose and yellow quartz) set in finely twisted bronze threads.
Two Egyptian purple porphyry columns topped with Corinthian capitals in chased and gilded bronze frame the central section. The lower part features a crosspiece cut with an agate medallion similar to the upper part and two large lapis lazuli cabochons.

Beautiful condition; minor restorations due to use.

Work attributable to the lapidary workshop of the "Galleria dei Lavori", Florence, 17th century.

Dimensions:
Height: 37 cm; Width: 23 cm
View: Height: 10 cm; Width: 8 cm
Similar models:
- Koller sale, December 7, 2006, lot 1031 (13,200 Swiss francs)
- Alvar González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan, 1986, p. 337, fig. 719 - T. Newbury, G. Basacca, L. Kanter, Italian Renaissance Frames, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, p. 56, fig. 27.

Our opinion:
The small mirror we are presenting is a typical production of the Florentine lapidary workshops, which created true masterpieces for the princely courts of Europe.
Its shape, imitating an ancient temple, and its two columns (a nod to the Solomonic columns) symbolize the church and, more broadly, the Christian religion.
It is quite possible that our mirror was originally the frame for a precious silver panel or bas-relief illustrating a Pietà, a crucifixion, or some other important episode in the life of Christ.
Few of these precious frames have survived, and our example is among the richest, with a decoration of mercury-gilt bronzes on ebony veneer, enriched with very rare stones imported from distant provinces such as agate or lapis lazuli, as well as stones from excavations such as porphyry, which was exhausted by the Romans as early as the 4th century. This small masterpiece, with its typically Renaissance form, represents all the splendor and pomp of the great Italian Baroque of the 17th century.