Lot Essay
Pietro Piffetti (1700-1777) was indisputably the greatest Italian cabinet-maker of the 18th century and one of the most extraordinary virtuosi of the Rococo period. His work is characterized by an exhilarating fluidity of line in combination with an unparalleled technical brilliance and lavish use of exotic materials such as mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell and ivory. Much of his work was executed for the Royal court in Turin, for whom he worked as ebanista reale from 1731 until his death, often in collaboration with the Royal architects, Filippo Juvarro (1678-1736) and Benedetto Alfieri (1699-1767). Little is known of his early training, although his grandfather was recorded in 1691 as a maestro di bosco. Piffetti's first recorded work is a pair of tables supplied in 1731 in Rome to the Marchese d'Ormea, Prime Minister to the King of Savoia, who was instrumental in having Piffetti appointed as Royal cabinet-maker in Turin. Alvar González-Palacios has recently discovered two marquetry tables from the workshop of Pierre Daneau, a Parisian ébéniste based in Rome, which give a clue to Piffetti's early training. The marquetry of one of these table tops incorporates elaborate flowers and trompe l'oeil playing cards, a motif used almost exactly by Piffetti on a console table now in the Museo Civici, Turin, indicating that Piffetti may have worked initially in Daneau's atelier (see A. González-Palacios, Fasto Romano, Rome, 1991, no. 93, figs. XLVI and XLVII).
Vittorio Amedeo II (1666-1732), then Duca di Savoia, acquired through clever diplomacy at the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the kingdom of Sicily, which he subsequently exchanged for the kingdom of Sardinia in 1720. He made Turin a grand showpiece for his newly acquired realm and commissioned Filippo Juvarro to build a magnificent series of churches and palaces including the Palazzo Madama and the Stupinigi, many of which were subsequently furnished by Piffetti. Vittorio Amedeo II abdicated in 1730, ceding the throne to his son Carlo Emmanuel III, who engaged Piffetti as ebanista reale on 13 July 1731 at an annual salary of 500 livres. Piffetti's first commission was for a pair of marquetry cabinets embellished with gilt-bronze mounts by Francesco Ladatte and sumptuously inlaid throughout with ivory and mother-of-pearl, supplied 1731-1733 to the Palazzo Reale for the Gabinetto di Toeletta of Queen Polissena, second wife of Carlo Emmanuele III (see A. González-Palacios, ed. and G. Ferraris, Pietro Piffetti, 1992, cat. 1). Piffetti continued to work for the king, his eldest son, the Duca di Savoia, later Vittorio Amedeo III, and other members of the Royal family throughout his life.
After Piffetti's death in 1777, Vittorio Amedeo III arranged for the pieces of his furniture remaining in his estate to be offered as prizes in a public lottery. Amongst these pieces is a cassetta which is identical in description to this lot:
'2.Una Cassetta con fondo di tartaruga, cornici intarsiate di madreperla, arabeschi, conchiglie, fiori, e foglie intagliate in avorio, profili, riquadri, scudetti, e comparti a mosaico di piccoli fiori. Nel coperchio le cornici formano una bellissima figura ovale festonata con arabeschi, e fiori, compresi li fornimenti, serratura, ed ogni altra cosa L 450'
(G. Ferraris and A. González-Palacios, op.cit., p. 217).
Another cassetta with many of the features of the box offered here, but without the scallop shells or the trellis inlay, is illustrated in (ibid, p. 119, cat. 119). It is tentatively linked to a bill for a cassetta supplied by Piffetti in 1740 to Queen Elizabeth, third wife of Carlo Emmanuele III, and described as follows:
'...una cassetta dal medesimo lavorata al di fuori a rabeschi, figure e fiori di madreperla in fondo di Tatrtaruga...600 livres (ibid, p. 204, no.63)
This exquisite box can be firmly placed in the oeuvre of Piffetti on a number of stylistic and technical grounds. The lavish use of exotic materials, combining ivory with tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl in dizzying profusion, is seen throughout his work, including the cabinet signed and dated 1738, now in the Fondazione Accorsi, Turin, and the cabinet with elaborate didactic inscriptions, now in the Palazzo Quirinale (ibid, cat. 33 and 34). The finely engraved and stained flowers in full bloom on this box also recur throughout Piffetti's altar frontals, one supplied to the Sacrario Apostolico in the Vatican in 1747, the other supplied to the Chiesa di San Filippo, Turin, signed and dated 1749 (ibid, cat. 37 and 38). The distinctive scallop shells are also a particular leitmotif of Piffetti's work, recurring as inlaid details in ivory or mother-of-pearl, but also as large scale sculptural elements within the overall design of larger pieces of case furniture. This is seen especially in a series of bureau-cabinets with shell-form crestings and aprons and shell-inlaid fall-fronts. This group includes one supplied to Carlo Emmanuele III's youngest son for the Palazzo Chiablese in 1767, now in a Swiss private collection, and one in the Detroit Institute of Arts ibid, cat. 26 and 58). A bureau-cabinet virtually identical to the Detroit example was sold from the collection of Lord Ashburton, Christie's London, 11 June 1992, lot 166.
The finely crafted interior in tulipwood and kingwood with a silver inkwell by Baradelle of Paris indicates that the box was fitted in Paris at a slightly later date. 'Baradel le jeune' is recorded in Paris c. 1779 as a silversmith, ciseleur, and scientific instrument maker. He invented various types of travelling writing desks and achieved such reknown that the form came to be referred to as 'écritoires à la Baradel'.
Vittorio Amedeo II (1666-1732), then Duca di Savoia, acquired through clever diplomacy at the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 the kingdom of Sicily, which he subsequently exchanged for the kingdom of Sardinia in 1720. He made Turin a grand showpiece for his newly acquired realm and commissioned Filippo Juvarro to build a magnificent series of churches and palaces including the Palazzo Madama and the Stupinigi, many of which were subsequently furnished by Piffetti. Vittorio Amedeo II abdicated in 1730, ceding the throne to his son Carlo Emmanuel III, who engaged Piffetti as ebanista reale on 13 July 1731 at an annual salary of 500 livres. Piffetti's first commission was for a pair of marquetry cabinets embellished with gilt-bronze mounts by Francesco Ladatte and sumptuously inlaid throughout with ivory and mother-of-pearl, supplied 1731-1733 to the Palazzo Reale for the Gabinetto di Toeletta of Queen Polissena, second wife of Carlo Emmanuele III (see A. González-Palacios, ed. and G. Ferraris, Pietro Piffetti, 1992, cat. 1). Piffetti continued to work for the king, his eldest son, the Duca di Savoia, later Vittorio Amedeo III, and other members of the Royal family throughout his life.
After Piffetti's death in 1777, Vittorio Amedeo III arranged for the pieces of his furniture remaining in his estate to be offered as prizes in a public lottery. Amongst these pieces is a cassetta which is identical in description to this lot:
'2.Una Cassetta con fondo di tartaruga, cornici intarsiate di madreperla, arabeschi, conchiglie, fiori, e foglie intagliate in avorio, profili, riquadri, scudetti, e comparti a mosaico di piccoli fiori. Nel coperchio le cornici formano una bellissima figura ovale festonata con arabeschi, e fiori, compresi li fornimenti, serratura, ed ogni altra cosa L 450'
(G. Ferraris and A. González-Palacios, op.cit., p. 217).
Another cassetta with many of the features of the box offered here, but without the scallop shells or the trellis inlay, is illustrated in (ibid, p. 119, cat. 119). It is tentatively linked to a bill for a cassetta supplied by Piffetti in 1740 to Queen Elizabeth, third wife of Carlo Emmanuele III, and described as follows:
'...una cassetta dal medesimo lavorata al di fuori a rabeschi, figure e fiori di madreperla in fondo di Tatrtaruga...600 livres (ibid, p. 204, no.63)
This exquisite box can be firmly placed in the oeuvre of Piffetti on a number of stylistic and technical grounds. The lavish use of exotic materials, combining ivory with tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl in dizzying profusion, is seen throughout his work, including the cabinet signed and dated 1738, now in the Fondazione Accorsi, Turin, and the cabinet with elaborate didactic inscriptions, now in the Palazzo Quirinale (ibid, cat. 33 and 34). The finely engraved and stained flowers in full bloom on this box also recur throughout Piffetti's altar frontals, one supplied to the Sacrario Apostolico in the Vatican in 1747, the other supplied to the Chiesa di San Filippo, Turin, signed and dated 1749 (ibid, cat. 37 and 38). The distinctive scallop shells are also a particular leitmotif of Piffetti's work, recurring as inlaid details in ivory or mother-of-pearl, but also as large scale sculptural elements within the overall design of larger pieces of case furniture. This is seen especially in a series of bureau-cabinets with shell-form crestings and aprons and shell-inlaid fall-fronts. This group includes one supplied to Carlo Emmanuele III's youngest son for the Palazzo Chiablese in 1767, now in a Swiss private collection, and one in the Detroit Institute of Arts ibid, cat. 26 and 58). A bureau-cabinet virtually identical to the Detroit example was sold from the collection of Lord Ashburton, Christie's London, 11 June 1992, lot 166.
The finely crafted interior in tulipwood and kingwood with a silver inkwell by Baradelle of Paris indicates that the box was fitted in Paris at a slightly later date. 'Baradel le jeune' is recorded in Paris c. 1779 as a silversmith, ciseleur, and scientific instrument maker. He invented various types of travelling writing desks and achieved such reknown that the form came to be referred to as 'écritoires à la Baradel'.