Live Auction 1113The Opulent Eye - 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe
A NAPOLEON III GILTWOOD MIRROR
Lot 174

A NAPOLEON III GILTWOOD MIRROR

THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Closed14 March 2013

Price Realised

GBP 16,250

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A NAPOLEON III GILTWOOD MIRROR
THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
The later oval bevelled plate within a floral-carved surround and a rectangular frame with Corinthian headed pilasters flanked by acanthus supports terminating in paw feet, the shell and foliate-carved cresting centred by a polychrome-decorated coat-of-arms for the Radziwill family, the shaped apron flanked by putto
82 x 57 (208 x 145 cm.)

Specialist note

The coat-of-arms is that of the illustrious Polish-Lithuanian Radziwill family; their lineage can be traced to the 14th century. The family have owned some notable historic homes, at one time owning twenty three palaces including Olyka Castle and Nesvizh; the present mirror may have come from one of these.
Interestingly, the Radziwill family is latterly connected by marriage to the Bonaparte family, Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark (d.1988), the great grand-daughter of Napoléon III's cousin, Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte, married Prince George Radziwill (d.2001) in 1938. Princess Eugénie is a cousin of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.