Lot Essay
The micro-mosaic of the top relates to drawings of the grotesques in the Palazzo Vecchio by Francesco Luigi Levrier (d. 1817) and Ildebrando Poggi and published in their Grottesche di Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1785-98, plate 13 (illustrated in S. Chiarugi, Botteghe di Mobilieri in Toscana, Florence, 1994, p. 40, fig. 12). Levrier was the maestro d'ornato of a Scuola d'Ornato or Grottesca in Florence, and promoted decoration based on grotesques. His drawings were subsequently engraved and were not only used for didactic purposes, but with all probability also as basis for artisans of the region. The Accademia delle Belle Arti, to which this school belonged, in the early 19th Century and under French influence, opened four artisan schools among which in 1804 the school for mosaics and micro- mosaics, which closed again after the Napoleonic defeats. It is possible that this top was executed in the school, based on the designs of its earlier teacher.
The table supports relate to a design by the Sienese architect Agostino Fantastici (d. 1845) which he executed for Francesco Piccolomini Clementini in circa 1830 (op. cit, p. 184, fig. 231).
The table supports relate to a design by the Sienese architect Agostino Fantastici (d. 1845) which he executed for Francesco Piccolomini Clementini in circa 1830 (op. cit, p. 184, fig. 231).