Cornucopia of the 18th century.
"Saint Martin of Tours sharing his cloak with a beggar".
Carved and gilded wood.
It has painted glass.
Measurements: 47,5 x 30 x 4 cm.
Cornucopia made of carved and gilded wood with a painted glass inside. It shows a scene where a soldier on horseback gives a blanket to an underprivileged person. The cornucopias were rich mirrors to which candle holders were added (which tends to disappear in 19th-century examples), so that the light from the candles would be multiplied by being reflected on their surface. They were particularly popular in the Baroque period, during the 17th century and much of the 18th century. They were an essential ornament in the great halls of representation which, following the typical theatricality of the Baroque, were full of mirrors and candelabras that produced visual games of all kinds, as well as enriching the room. Since they were pieces of performance furniture, they were made of richly carved and gilded wood, and their frames were decorated with a multitude of delicate relief motifs, worked as if they were sculptures. Cornucopias, like the rest of the mirrors of the Baroque period, could have frames of different shapes and profiles, but they never went beyond the inner profile of the glass, unlike the examples of the Rococo period.