33 x 75 x 28
Painted wood and mirrored glass
INDEX 1788 : X.IV.375
Speculum compositum ex tribus speculis planis, ad se invicem vario modo inclinatis super tabellam pictam; ac tres imagunculae canum vario situ ante specula dispositae, quae aliquoties repetitae apparent.
Mirror composed of three flat mirrors inclined alternately in a way which varies on a painted board; three small pictures of dogs placed in front of mirrors in varied positions which are repeated number of times.
This apparatus has three flat mirrors, mounted vertically on a horizontal wooden board. The shape of this board is similar to a trapezium, the larger side slightly curved. The orientation of the mirrors accompanies the direction defined by the three smaller sides of the trapezium. The wooden board is painted with motifs representing a garden, with a fountain surrounded by flower beds.
When observed through the mirrors, the assemblage gives the observer the impression that the garden is composed of four identical fountains, each one constituting the centre of a garden identical to the one painted on the board.
From Colégio dos Nobres, catalogue n.º 368.