A CORAL AND ENAMEL-MOUNTED GILT-COPPER OCTAGONAL MIRROR

Both in its natural form and when intricately carved, coral has been a prized material, and ever since antiquity has been held to have magical or medicinal properties. Trapani, a small town by the sea near Palermo, was certainly the most important centre of production, with its output supported by the court of the Sicilian Viceroy from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The intensely calligraphic impact of these 'Trapani wares', with dense patterns of intertwined enamel and coral foliage on a lustrous gilt-bronze ground, betrays the strong Moorish influence on Sicilian art.

The most luxurious objects were usually embellished with enamels, such as this mirror frame. Related Trapani frames include examples in Santiago da Compostela and formerly in the Whitaker collection, illustrated in M.C. di Natale ed., Splendori di Sicilia, exh. cat., Milan, 2001, p. 50, fig. 48, and p. 33, fig. 15.