FLORENCE, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

AN ITALIAN ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND PIETRA DURA EBONY BOX
Florence, early 18th Century
Of octagonal shape, the hinged top fitted with a panel depicting bust-lenght portraits of two saints in foliate wreaths, within a field of scrolling foliage and with a white marble and lapis lazuli outer border, the moulded edge mounted with cabochon-cat stones held in foliate-cast clasps, the angles mounted with Medusa's masks joined by foliate garlands, on later turned feet, the underside numbered in red pen '909' and 'a7oox(?)'; together with descriptive invoice dated 1926, lacking fruits to the garlands, the pietra dura panel to the top originally conceived as a hanging panel and probably associated in the 18th Century
6 in. (15.5 cm.) high; 18 in. (46 cm.) wide; 15 in. (38 cm.) deep

Provenance

By repute made for Pope Gregoire.
With E. Segre Antichità, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, in 1926, sold to Mr Chas. E. Gehring (L10,000).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The annunciation scene depicted on the main panel of this beautiful pietra dura box is based on the celebrated 14th Century fresco of the Florentine SS. Annunciata church, and shows the figures of the angel and the Madonna facing each other in oval reserves.

An ormolu-mounted octagonal pietra dura plaque in the Vatican is said to be the prototype executed in the Grand Ducal Workshops on designs by Gian Battista Foggini (1652-1725) in 1700, under the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo III (1652-1723) (see A. Gonzalez-Palacios Il Tempio del Gusto, Il Granducato di Toscana e gli Stati Settentrionali, vol. II, Milan, 1986, p. 88, pl. 139

A popular subject of the Florentine art of the first half of the 18th Century, many interpretations of the subject have been made. Another closely related octagonal top signed Baccio Cappelli and dated 1727, depicting the same subject is conserved in the Museo dell Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence (illustrated in A.M. Giusti, et al., Il Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure a Firenze, Milan, 1978, cat. 145, pl. 164).

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