AN OVAL CLAUDE GLASS

AN OVAL CLAUDE GLASS

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

possibly obsidian, in a red leather case

12cm wide

Catalogue Note

A Claude glass (or black mirror) is a small mirror, slightly convex in shape, with its surface tinted a dark colour. Bound up like a pocket-book or in a carrying case, Claude glasses were used by artists, travellers and connoisseurs of landscape and landscape painting.

Claude glasses have the effect of reducing and simplifying the colour and tonal range of scenes and scenery to give them a painterly quality. The user would turn their back on the scene to observe the framed view through the tinted mirror — in a sort of pre-photographic lens — which added the picturesque aesthetic of a subtle gradation of tones.