Fine North Italian Late 18th Century Triple Plate Overmantel Mirror #2945

Fine North Italian Late 18th Century Triple Plate Overmantel Mirror in Wonderful Original Condition

Italy Circa 1780

Of conventional rectangular landscape form with three original mercury silvered plates. The plates, which have aged beautifully and have a lovely blue hue colour, are separated by giltwood astragals with beaded detail. 

The frame consists of a very fine ribbon moulded outer border and then a beaded inner border, the cresting is composed of swags of husks and flowers with a central urn topped by ribbons tied in to a bow. In each corner of the mirror there is a finely carved star patera with the piece standing on lion's paw feet having hairy fetlocks, accentuated with additional carved foliate detail. 

Employing feet on a mirror is unusual but seems to have been a hallmark of North Italian mirror production in this period, particularly in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions.

Overmantel mirrors do not survive in the same numbers as the more common wall mirrors and have always been particularly sought-after, especially when they are of such practical size as the present example which is not overwhelmingly large. 

The present mirror also benefits from a restrained design which is not unnecessarily elaborate-the designer having confidence in the quality of materials and craftsmanship. 

The restrained neoclassical motifs used to decorate this piece are not particularly country specific either, meaning that this piece would harmonise very well with English, American or Continental pieces of this period or would function equally well as an accent piece in an otherwise modern interior.