This pair of extraordinary mirrors combine two quintessential arts of Venice: colored glass, produced at the Murano factory since the 13th century, and sculptural carving of a particularly fluid and graceful form. In their execution and quality they are remarkably similar to a pair of Venetian armchairs sold at Christie's, New York, 15 October 2019, lot 242.

Furniture and mirrors incorporating glass panels that survive from the 18th century are particularly rare and must have been reserved for the most elite patrons. One of the few recorded examples of seat furniture incorporating glass panels (using the same blue color), is a chair in the Museo Vetrario, Murano (illustrated in E. Colle, Il Mobile Rococò in Italia, Milan, 2003, p. 359). In discussing a suite of 19th century Venetian furniture incorporating green glass panels by Michelangelo Guggenheim in the Palazzo Quirinale, Alvar González-Palacios refers to the chair in Murano as one of the ‘rarissimi’ works incorporating glass to have survived from the 18th century, and suggested that it served as the inspiration for the Quirinale set (see A. González-Palacios, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale: I Mobili Italiani, Milan, 1996, pp. 340-341). A similar pair of giltwood armchairs incorporating blue glass sold Christies, New York, 2 June 2015, lot 305 for $100,000.