THE MARQUETRY 19TH CENTURY, THE CHEST BASICALLY EARLIER

Details

AN ITALIAN WALNUT, FRUITWOOD AND BONE MARQUETRY 'CERTOSINA' CHEST
THE MARQUETRY 19TH CENTURY, THE CHEST BASICALLY EARLIER
Inlaid overall with geometric panels, the top with a chessboard, the reverse with the monogram of Christ, with a lidded compartment to the interior, formerly with lock, with paper label inscribed A154/636/4 and brass plaque stamped 3056
48 cm. high x 121 cm. wide x 50 cm. deep

Provenance

Schloss Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 1945.

Special notice

“!” Lots imported from outside the EU. The Buyer’s Premium is 37.05% incl. VAT over the first €5,000, plus 31.1% incl. VAT of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 21.58% incl. VAT of any amount in excess of €400,001.

Lot Essay

The certosina work is a luxorious pictorial woodwork common in Italy by the fifteenth century. This special technique in which small polygonal tesserae of wood, bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl and other materials were inlaid in geometric patterns into a wooden base, was influenced by Islamic geometrical arabesque. The characteristic geometrical and floral design of this certosina work is very comparable to an exhibited chest in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, also illustrated in J. Morley, Furniture. The Western Tradition, London, 1999, p. 102, pl. 174.

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