A Near Pair of Swedish Baroque Blue Glass and Gilt Metal Pier Glasses Attributed to Burchard Precht, Early 18th Century

Dealing in Excellence: A Celebration of Hotspur and Jeremy, Christie's London, 20 November 2008, lot 160;

Where acquired by the present collector.

This model of mirror with its distinctive arched and C-scroll crest, flower basket finials and borders in blue, etched or églomisé glass is traditionally ascribed to the workshop of the sculptor and woodcarver Burchard Precht (1658-1738) or of his sons Gustaf (1698-1763) and Christian (1706-1779), who became a silversmith. Born in Bremen to a family of sculptors, Burchard Precht trained in Hamburg under his elder brother Christian, and 1672 moved to Sweden to work at Drottningholm Palace, where he supplied carved decoration and furniture items such as small tables, stands and mirrors. In 1681 he became a court sculptor, and in 1687 accompanied the royal architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (d.1728) on his visit to Italy and France, where he was introduced to the art of the court of Louis XIV. Along with Tessin, Precht is often credited with introducing the Baroque style to Sweden, and he worked extensively on ecclesiastic interiors, carving pews, pulpits, tabernacles and altars, notably the high altar of Uppsala Cathedral (1728), transferred to the Gustaf Vasa church in Stockholm in 1906. Precht was influenced by the designs of French and Netherlandish architects and ornamental draughtsmen like Jean Bérain (d.1711) and Daniel Marot (d.1752), whose designs for French border miroirs à parecloses were published c.1700 in his Nouveau Livre d'ornements, pour l'utilité des Sculpteurs et Orfèvres.

An almost identical blue glass border mirror formerly with Kugel, Paris and in a distinguished private collection was sold Sotheby's Paris, 9 April 2008, lot 76; it is also illustrated on the cover and as plate VII of Serge Roche, Germain Courage et Pierre Devinoy, Mirrors, New York 1985. Another very similar example with blue glass, also formerly with Kugel, was sold Christie's London, 7 July 2011, lot 548, and a further mirror of comparable design with verre églomisé borders is illustrated in Graham Child, World Mirrors 1650-1900, London 1990, p.297 fig.678.