Relief mounted as a mirror frame

Wenzel Jamnitzer was the greatest Mannerist goldsmith in the German-speaking areas. As an imperial goldsmith to the Habsburg court, he served no fewer than four emperors. Much of his fame was based on highly inventive objects and mounted naturalia for princely curiosity cabinets. The design of this relief frame, with personifications of four of the seven liberal arts-Arithmetic, Geometry, Perspective, and Architecture-was adopted from the title page of Jamnitzer's treatise Perspectiva corporum regularium (1568). The ovoid mirror with faceted edges is distinguished by a crowning lion in repoussé silver-a clear reference to Jamnitzer's maker's mark, the letter "W" above a lion's head. A portrait of the artist or of a princely first owner may have been mounted in the oval below. The object was part of a precious silver book cover that was subsequently reconfigured as a mirror.