拍品專文
There are many references to piqué work in advertisements and sale catalogues of the 18th Century. In his catalogue of The James. A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, Fribourg, 1974, vol. II, p. 838, Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue refers to the collection of picay work formed by Queen Charlotte, consort to King George III. This included an inkstand and two snuffboxes that were later sold in these Rooms, 18 May 1819, lot 30, 25 May 1819, lot 67 and 26 May 1819, lot 17. Robert Adam is recorded as having bought three 'very handsome snuff-boxes of yellow and black tortoise-shell studded with gold...' on a visit to Naples in 1755 (see: J. Fleming, Robert Adam and his Circle, London, 1962, p. 157). Later in the century Lady Anne Miller refers to a comb bought while in Naples. In a letter of 1771 she wrote of Naples:
'this city is famous for a manufacture of tortoisehell, which they inlay curiously with gold, and are very ingenious at representing any object you choose. I have had a comb made for my chignon incrusted with gold, to imitate an Etruscan border, copied from an antique vase, which is so well done, that we have bespoke several other articles...(Lady Anne Miller, Letters from Italy, London, 1776, vol. III, pp. 243-244, see: de Bellaigue, loc. cit.)
Piqué is thought to have originated at the end of the 16th Century in Naples. Horn or tortoiseshell was softened in boiling water with some olive oil. When soft, a design of mother-of-pearl, gold or silver strips or pinpoints were impressed. By the late 17th Century the technique was practised in France, England and northern Europe, with Paris and Naples probably being the centres of this craftsmanship.
A larger box that was sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 26 April 1994, lot 158, was inlaid with designs that derive from prints in Johann Neuhof's Het Gezantschap der Neerlantsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, published in Amsterdam in 1665. The box was inlaid in a combination of gold and silver that was significantly different from the present lot. This and the source of the design suggest that it was German.
'this city is famous for a manufacture of tortoisehell, which they inlay curiously with gold, and are very ingenious at representing any object you choose. I have had a comb made for my chignon incrusted with gold, to imitate an Etruscan border, copied from an antique vase, which is so well done, that we have bespoke several other articles...(Lady Anne Miller, Letters from Italy, London, 1776, vol. III, pp. 243-244, see: de Bellaigue, loc. cit.)
Piqué is thought to have originated at the end of the 16th Century in Naples. Horn or tortoiseshell was softened in boiling water with some olive oil. When soft, a design of mother-of-pearl, gold or silver strips or pinpoints were impressed. By the late 17th Century the technique was practised in France, England and northern Europe, with Paris and Naples probably being the centres of this craftsmanship.
A larger box that was sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 26 April 1994, lot 158, was inlaid with designs that derive from prints in Johann Neuhof's Het Gezantschap der Neerlantsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, published in Amsterdam in 1665. The box was inlaid in a combination of gold and silver that was significantly different from the present lot. This and the source of the design suggest that it was German.