CIRCA 1785

Jack Warner (1892-1978) was a legendary film executive who, with his three brothers, founded Warner Brothers Studios in 1927. This restrained and elegant bureau cabinet was sold from his estate by Christie’s New York in 1990. Engraved and mirrored glass-mounted furniture was a rarity, and very difficult to achieve in the 18^th century; but even by the 17th century there was a successful center of glassmaking in the low countries that rivaled the quality of Venetian mirrored glass. Wheel-engraved glass and crystal techniques in northern Europe developed first in Bohemia around 1600 and flourished in the Netherlands in the second half of the 17^th century (see Pieter C. Ritsema van Eck, “Early Wheel Engraving in the Netherlands,” Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 26, 1984, pp. 86-101). Glass panes of even thickness could be skillfully cut and polished and given a reflective backing with the use of a very fine tin foil applied with mercury (see Loek van Aalst and Annigje Hofstede, Noord-Nederlandse meubelen van renaissance tot vroege barok 1550-1670, Amsterdam, 2011, pp. 58-59). A Dutch innovation to this art was diamond stippling, which created an image by gently tapping glass with a diamond-tipped tool (see Jasmine Keegan, Year of Glass: Dutch Artistry, 2022, CooperHewitt.org). One such early example of engraved and mirrored glass-mounted case furniture from circa 1675 to 1690 can be found at the Kunstmuseum den Haag (1021159), where a cabinet on stand opens to reveal an extraordinary interior with twenty panes of glass with scenes of Greek mythology. Similarly, this bureau cabinet from approximately one hundred years later boasts expertly engraved and mirrored glass to both the interior and exterior with musical trophies, song birds, and a the Greek god Poseidon.