Significant Mirror Console, Masterpiece by Rappa & Giobbe Munich, Germany

This mas­ter­piece was made by Rap­pa & Giobbe for the grand Berlin Art Exhi­bi­tion. It might also have pos­si­bly been shown already ear­li­er, at the World Exhi­bi­tion in Chica­go in 1893 in ​“The Ger­man Pavil­lion”, at which Rap­pa & Giobbe took part besides F. Rad­spiel­er. This isn’t entire­ly con­firmed. Where­as it is cer­tain­ly con­firmed and doc­u­ment­ed for the Berlin Art Exhi­bi­tion 1894. 

Rap­pa & Giobbe were renowned far beyond Munich’s bor­ders as stuc­co­ers and sculp­tures of the roy­al court. As Roy­al Bavar­i­an pur­vey­or to the court, they had the priv­i­lege to work for Lud­wig II, the Bavar­i­an King, and con­tributed to his cas­tles’ facil­i­ties. This aston­ish­ing­ly elab­o­rat­ed Mir­ror Con­sole of the high­est qual­i­ty in crafts­man­ship and carv­ing work some­body may count among the most exquis­ite exam­ples of their extror­di­nary abil­i­ties. Objects like this, were most­ly made for aris­to­crat­ic family’s, or upcom­ing bour­geoisie with its fac­to­ry own­ers and financiers and it can be for sure con­sid­ered as the most elab­o­rat­ed mas­ter­pieces of this time.

The con­sole is raised on four swept legs, rich­ly dec­o­rat­ed with carved rocailles, blos­soms, and leaves. The slight­ly re-entrant legs are con­nect­ed with a dec­o­rat­ed cross joint with a blos­som and foli­ate embell­ished cartouche. 

The final wreath of the con­sole table is rich­ly dec­o­rat­ed all around with rocaille and leaf motifs. In the cen­ter we find a car­touche dec­o­rat­ed with acan­thus, embell­ished with a wick­er­work, just like the side elements.

The mould­ed and curved top in stuc­co mar­ble has a stun­ning colour com­bi­na­tion, and is a prime exam­ple of the high stan­dard of crafts­man­ship. The mag­nif­i­cent mir­ror is lav­ish­ly carved. We find flow­ers, acan­thus and foliage all around, as well as rocailles, car­touch­es and egg-and-dart decorations.

Beson­ders her­vorzuheben ist das vollplas­tisch aus­ge­führte Schnitzw­erk, wo sog­ar das Geäst der Blät­ter vollplas­tisch aus einem Stück her­aus geschnitzt wurde. Mit­tig ist der Spiegel mit je ein­er zwei­flam­mi­gen, in ver­gold­e­ter Bronze und mit feinem Blat­twerk gezierte App­like ausgeführt.

Par­tic­u­lar­ly note­wor­thy is the three-dimen­sion­al carv­ing; even the branch­es of the leaves were carved from one piece. In the cen­ter of the mir­ror is a two-flame appliqué in gild­ed bronze and dec­o­rat­ed with fine foliage.

The upward striv­ing frame is designed with a rich­ly dec­o­rat­ed ampho­ra on the left and right. The cen­ter is formed by a car­touche, with a mag­nif­i­cent ampho­ra on top and a lav­ish­ly carved flower dec­o­ra­tion. This is con­nect­ed on both sides by two cor­nices ris­ing to the shape of a gable, flanked by large drag­ons in motion.

This mag­nif­i­cent mir­ror con­sole is made in lime wood, par­tial­ly gilt. The orig­i­nal mir­ror plate is designed in a curved and faceted form.

Doc­u­ment­ed in ​“Große Berlin­er Kun­st-Ausstel­lung” (The Grand Berlin Art Exhi­bi­tion), 1894, Cat­a­log — Pub­lish­er Rud. Schus­ter, Berlin

Per­son­al comment:

Just like this impres­sive mir­ror con­sole pre­sent­ed here, out­stand­ing mas­ter­pieces were most­ly made as key pieces for large inter­na­tion­al art exhi­bi­tions, as an attempt to attract inter­na­tion­al clien­tel and dif­fer­en­ti­ate from com­peti­tors. This usu­al­ly result­ed in fur­ther orders for the aris­toc­ra­cy or the up-and-com­ing bour­geoisie.

Firms such as Rap­pa & Giobbe or F. Rad­spiel­er were respon­si­ble for the mag­nif­i­cent design of the cas­tles and man­sions of this time and still let us walk through the rooms they designed in amazement.