ATTRIBUTED TO LUCIO DE LUCCI, VENICE, LATE 17TH CENTURY, THE STAND 19TH CENTURY

This magnificent table is one of the finest and best preserved examples of a small group of spectacular Venetian marquetry panels executed by Lucio and Antonio de Lucci, the only documented craftsmen to have produced such marquetry furniture in Venice in the second half of the 17th century.

Nothing is known about the De Luccis apart from the few works signed by them, which include, next to the spectacular pair of tables sold by the Duke of Buccleuch, Christie's London 11 March 1971, and again Christie's London, 7 December 2006, (one now in the V&A, London (inv. W.6 :1,2-2012) and the other the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh(inv. K.2012.26)) a third table top on which a very similar Turkish figure is holding an ivory scroll inscribed 'ANT. DE LUCCI FECE IN VENETIA 1686'. A fourth top, possibly made en suite and identically inscribed, was cut up in the 18th century to be employed as marquetry decoration on a German writing desk probably constructed in 1764 (see D. di Castro, 'Una tarsia veneziana del Seicento per un bureau tedesco del Settecento', DecArt, Riviste di arti decorative, 2004, pp. 20-25). The other two known tops, the one presented here as well as its pair inlaid with a view of 'NAPOLI DI ROMANIA' (presumably Nauplia), can be firmly attributed to the same makers on comparison with the signed ones. As their works are extremely alike, there can be no doubt that Antonio and Luccio de Lucci were related and that they were active in the same workshop.

Whereas Florentine marquetry furniture from the second half of the 17th century is well-known, with the work of the Flemish-born Leonardo van der Vinne standing out, very little ambitious pictorial marquetry made in other Italian cities during this period is recorded. In comparison with the work of Van der Vinne which closely adheres to Parisian models (cf. Colle, pp. 164-171), the marquetry by the De Luccis is characterized by bold scrolled ribbons, exuberant floral patterns and highly ambitious pictorial scenes.

The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. It was a battle of The Holy League versus the Ottoman Empire and fiefdoms of the Ottoman Empire near the Kahlenberg mountain in Vienna. The large-scale battle was won by Polish-Lithuanian, Austrian and German forces commanded by the King of Poland Jan III Sobieski versus the Ottoman army commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. It marked the beginning of the political hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in Central Europe and was the last time the Ottomans seriously threatened Catholic Europe.

The pair to this table depicts the capture of Napoli di Romania (the Italian name of the seaport Nauplia in the Greek Peleponnese) by the Venetian general Francesco Morosini in 1686, restoring to the Venetians their ancient stronghold in the Morea which had been ceded to the Turks in the 16th century. Francesco Morosini was subsequently elected Doge of Venice in 1688 and reigned until 1694.

This table was possibly in the collection of the diarist and scholar John Evelyn (1620-1706) and was perhaps recorded in the March 1706 inventory of Wotton House, Surrey drawn up a month after Evelyn’s death : Goods in the house of John Evelyn left to John Evelyn his grandson, currently held in the British Library. Listed in the library of Wotton is ‘A large inlayed table/ of Cedar’ and below ‘Another great table at the other end of the Roome’, possibly referring to our inlaid table and its pair sold from the family collection in 1977. The predominant timber of our table is walnut of a light colour similar to cedar and it is therefore likely to have been identified as such by the writer of the inventory.
John Evelyn chronicled in great detail one of the most turbulent periods of England’s history and was an early grand tourist, travelling through France and Italy during the English Civil War. He was a connoisseur of inlaid furniture and on his grand tour acquired a pietra dura-inlaid cabinet in Florence, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.24:1 to 24-1977) as well as a French parquetry cabinet currently in the Museum of the Home, London (inv. 46⁄1979). Our table would have appealed to Evelyn’s curiosity due to its Florentine origin and rich marquetry depicting a scene of historical and political importance. He had a keen interest in international politics and on 23rd September 1683 Evelyn wrote in his diary ‘We had now the welcome tidings of the King of Poland raising the siege of Vienna, which had given terror to all of Europe’ (John Evelyn, The Diary of John Evelyn, Vol. 1, 2012, Project Gutenberg, p.187).