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Lot Essay
Echoing the lapidary masterpieces of the 16th and 17th Century such as those from the treasury of the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, now in the Prado, Madrid, this intriguing shell-carved tazza was probably executed in Russia in the early 19th Century. The thinly carved bowl shows the transluscent character of the hardstone more evidently than the stem or the foot, but all parts are apparently of the same manufacture, which is also supported by the fact that the gadrooning to the underside of the bowl is interrupted where it joins the stem.
The discoveries of numerous new hardstone quarries in the Ural and Altai mountains at the end of the 18th Century, offered the Imperial lapidary workshops a vast array of coloured hardstones, and of each type many variants. This superbly cut tazza is made of a green hardstone of a highly transluscent nature, probably a Cryptocrystalline Quartz, which includes Agate, Aventurine, Bloodstone and Chalcedony.
The discoveries of numerous new hardstone quarries in the Ural and Altai mountains at the end of the 18th Century, offered the Imperial lapidary workshops a vast array of coloured hardstones, and of each type many variants. This superbly cut tazza is made of a green hardstone of a highly transluscent nature, probably a Cryptocrystalline Quartz, which includes Agate, Aventurine, Bloodstone and Chalcedony.