A CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE-PAINTED MIRROR

The frame of this reverse-painted mirror is almost certainly original, and an example of a type produced in a Chinese workshop and kept after delivery to the West. Constructed in giltwood and carved with naturalistic motifs, in Chinese Reverse Glass Painting, 1720-1820, Thierry Audric points out that frames like this sometimes also had, 'lucky charm motifs, such as the characters for happiness or longevity, the attributes of Taoist Immortals, Buddhist symbols, and so on' (Peter Lang, 2020, p. 113). The backboards of this frame are probably also original, and maintain remnants of applied Chinese paper. A related mirror with a nearly identical original giltwood frame and painting was sold Christie's, New York, 8 April 2004, lot 215, and is certainly from the same workshop.