FLORENTINE, THE PANELS ATTRIBUTED TO THE GRAND DUCAL WORKSHOPS, LAST QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

Splendid ebony cabinets such as this example, elaborately conceived to display costly Florentine pietra dura panels from the Medici workshops, were mainly produced in Florence and Rome, and favoured by a growing population of wealthy patrons. This cabinet, probably adapted in England in the 19th century, when such objects were highly sought after and bought by connoisseurs such as William Beckford, displays some of the finest pietra dura panels. The precious trompe l'oeil mosaics of marbles and hardstones epitomise the princely magnificence of the Opificio delle pietre dure, founded in 1588 by Grand Duke Ferdinand I de Medici, while their never-fading flowers evoke the Arcadian concept of perpetual spring or 'Ver perpetuum'. The richest and most striking element of the façade, framed by drawers embellished with birds, fruiting branches and floral sprigs, is the central panel depicting an ormolu-mounted and flower-filled vase. The vase is one of the earliest and most favoured subjects of the grand ducal workshops and can also be found on large-scale panels for the monumental altar of Santo Spirito, executed between 1599 and 1607 for the Michelozzi family. A related cabinet, of slightly larger proportion, from the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, is now in the Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure (A. Giusti (ed.), Splendori di Pietre Dure, Florence, 1988, cat. 31).