CIRCA 1700-1710, THE SWING FRAME MIRROR POSSIBLY REPLACED IN THE 18TH CENTURY

This mirror was most probably made for a marriage in the Grill family, who were one of the most influential and wealthy merchant families of Sweden in the eighteenth century. The Grills owned the Swedish East India Trading Company through which they amassed a large fortune. Being the foremost collectors of Chinese porcelain at the time, they ordered several dinner services from China showing their coat-of-arms and crest; a crane devouring a grasshopper, a symbol of their Italian origins as grillo means grasshopper. For a plate from one of these services see Christie's, Amsterdam, 31 March – 1 April, 2009, lot 406. The family’s love for the “white gold” probably explains why this mirror resembles a work in porcelain. Furthermore, the design of the services is closely related to that found on the mirror of this lot.

The design of two of the dinner services ordered by the Grills has traditionally been attributed to Christian Precht (1706-1779), son of the famed designer Burchardt Precht. Precht first apprenticed with his father and was eventually trained in England and France. Precht designed silverware and table settings for the court, high nobility and wealthy bourgeoisie, as well as patterns for the Marieberg porcelain factory. Today, Precht is widely considered as the foremost champion of the Rococo style in Sweden.