DescriptionAn inscription warning against vanity, "Not beauty but truth is to be admired," appears in the cartouche below two griffins at the bottom edge of this finely carved frame that originally housed a mirror. The mirror would have been covered with a sliding shutter (now lost), a common feature of sixteenth-century Tuscan mirror frames. The style of the frame and the high quality of its craftsmanship suggest that this object was made in the del Tasso workshop in Florence, which for three generations was famous for its woodcarving.

ProvenancePeruzzi de'Medici; [Galleria Bellini, Florence], bought in Florence, 1937. Acquired by Robert Lehman in 1955.