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Tondo mirror frame

Possibly workshop of Benedetto da Maiano Italian
ca. 1480
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 954
Round, or tondo, frames housing mirrors or devotional images were a popular type of domestic furnishing in Tuscany in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The convex glass of this mirror is original and is characteristic of fifteenth-century mirrors throughout Europe. The shallow relief frame was made by pressing stucco into a mold, a technique commonly encountered in sculpture and architectural decoration from the late Middle Ages onward. Neither the shield held by the two putti at the bottom of the frame nor the monogram on the reverse, presumably the maker's mark traced into the wet stucco, has been identified. The style of the ornament, especially the putti, has been associated with the workshop of Benedetto da Maiano (1442–1497), a prominent Florentine sculptor who was also active in Siena, where this frame may have been made. Although they entered the Museum with the gift of his collection in 1975, the remarkable antique frames assembled by Robert Lehman were not accessioned as works of art until 1990 in preparation for the landmark exhibition "The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tondo mirror frame
  • Artist: Possibly workshop of Benedetto da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1442–1497 Florence)
  • Date: ca. 1480
  • Medium: Stucco squeeze, blown convex mirror, gilt, orange-brown bole.
  • Dimensions: Overall: 21 7/16 × 14 3/4 in. (54.5 × 37.5 cm)
    Sight: 5 × 5 1/8 in. (12.7 × 13 cm)
  • Classification: Frames
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.2158
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

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Mourning St. John from a Crucifixion Group, Benedetto da Maiano Italian, Bronze, possibly Italian
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