Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Framed with gilded wood and adorned with panels depicting two black griffins, this mirror supposedly once belonged to the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during his final exile to the island of St. Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It was made in 1810, five years before the French general arrived in St. Helena. This mirror entered the Collection in 1938, 102 years after his death. One can imagine the Emperor contemplating his historic career and how it shaped the world in its reflection.