THE CABINET CONSTRUCTED FROM SOME EARLY 18TH CENTURY ELEMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO THE SPIEGELMANUFAKTUR LOHR AM MAIN, THE STAND LATER

In Europe the widespread fascination with interiors fitted with large mirrors was ignited by the creation of the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles in the early 1680s. Soon, it became de rigeur for royal and wealthy aristocratic patrons to build a formal reception room within their residences that was similarly fitted with large sheets of looking glass, which was extremely costly and technically challenging to manufacture. However, as the eighteenth century progressed, more intimate mirror-clad interiors became more and more popular throughout Europe, particularly in Germanic lands, where some of the finest Spiegelkabinetten were constructed, including the ones in Merseburg, Würzburg, Rastatt, and Brühl, among others. Smaller in scale than large mirror halls, these cabinets were most often private spaces paneled with mirror plates that were etched, painted, or reverse decorated and were to be admired in detail. This appreciation for finely-decorated mirror plates also manifested itself in furniture making and various types of furnishings were occasionally fitted with mirror. To satisfy the demand for exquisitely-worked mirrors, Spiegelmanufakturen were set up that employed the most experienced glass blowers, cutters, and engravers.
SPIEGELMANUFAKTUR LOHR AM MAIN
One of the most illustrious of mirror factories was that in Lohr am Main. It was the first of its kind in Germany, founded in 1698 by Elector Lothar Franz von Schönborn (1655-1729). The Elector longed to recreate his own palace in the style of Louis XIV, and contracted three French glassmakers to complete some of the most expensive and delicate work locally. Built on the banks of the river and utilizing hydropower, the factory was able to reach an unsurpassed level of expertise in their decorative works, specializing in etched and engraved pieces such as some of the panels used on this cabinet. Both local and international commissions, reputedly including pieces for the Tsar, poured out of the factory, such as a suite of furniture and mirror for Schloss Gaibach, and a small casket now in Pommersfelden, see H. Kreisel, Kunst des Deutschen Möbels Vol II, Munich, 1970, figs. 164-169. A single mirror attributed to the Lohr manufactory, previously in the collection of Eugène-Philipe de Mérode and subsequently in that of the Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore sold Christie's, New York, 11 December 2014, lot 42 ($209,000).
ARTURO LOPEZ-WILLSHAW
One of the most celebrated collections of the twentieth century was formed by the Chilean-born aesthete and mécène Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1901-1962). He inherited a vast family fortune and settled in Paris in the inter-war years, eventually acquiring in 1928 the hôtel Rodocanichi in Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris, which had been built in 1903 by the architect Paul Rodocanachi and was inspired by the designs of eighteenth-century hôtels particuliers. Lopez-Willshaw, along with his equally celebrated and lifelong friend Alexis de Redé, was passionate about the arts of eighteenth-century France and was one of the greatest supporters of Versailles of his era, including notably his financing of the refurbishment of the Chambre du Roi. His hôtel in Neuilly was filled with treasures and came to be known as a ‘petit Versailles’- it even included a ballroom entirely covered in shells, inspired by the famous coquillage at Rambouillet which he had helped to restore. He was particularly drawn to seat furniture from the early, avant gard phase of Neoclassicism from the 1760’s, including examples of the celebrated mobilier supplied by Delanois to Madame du Barry and a suite of seat furniture supplied to King Stanislaus August of Poland.