19th Century Venetian Blue Eglomise Wall Mirror

Opulent, exuberant, and exciting 19th-century Venetian eglomise wall mirror built on the foundations of centuries of expert glass manufacture in Murano.

Italy, Murano, Venice

Height : 122 cms (48 ins)
Width : 71 cms (28 ins)

"We could not sleep at night, it was like having the moon for company, so bright it shone."

Wrote Jim Ede of Kettle’s Yard. The bright crisply cut mercury mirror plate of his Venetian mirror provided such excitement and dazzling luminance reflecting the light of a full moon.

The present mirror shares the brilliance of the cut glass, its manufacturer reveled in its creation combining fantastic facets, lunettes, engraving and hand-blown glass with copious cut details. The blue foil-backed eglomise border is detailed with polychrome enamel paints of white, gold, and shades of blue. The moonlight can dance across this fantastical mirror too.

Invented by Venetian artists, clear plate glass was first produced in the islands of Murano. In addition, gold and bronze were added to the tin-mercury amalgam in special proportions to enhance the reflected images. Glass-making dominated the island’s economy by the 16th century and employed almost half of the 7000-strong population, manufacturing the most delicate of glassware. Today, it remains one of the country’s key glass-making centers. Only a few Murano master glass artisans illegally traveled outside the city and shared their techniques with other countries, because the secret technique was so protected by law.