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Lot Essay
Formed by a passionate and discerning collector, this remarkable group celebrates the enduring splendour of pietra dura and the virtuoso craftsmanship of Europe’s great hardstone traditions. Spanning Florence, Prague and Paris, the following lots bring together works of exceptional rarity and refinement, united by their sumptuous materials and technical brilliance.
This jewel-like bonheur-du-jour recounts a story that spans centuries and empires. Executed by the celebrated cabinetmaker Henry Dasson in late 19th century Paris, the cabinet prominently displays costly and rarefied masterpieces in pietra dura. The two Bohemian panels in each door are attributed to the talented Cosimo Castrucci, a sought after Florentine artisan engaged by the connoisseur Emperor Rudolf II to move to his capital in Prague in the late 16th century and become ‘his majesty’s gem-cutter’. Masterfully worked in Bohemian hardstones, these exquisite paintings in stone were evidence of the splendour of Rudolf’s court and an intention to establish Prague as a rival artistic capital to Florence and Rome. Appreciation for Castrucci’s work has endured as evinced by the panels’ installation, alongside a Florentine pietra dura plaque, into a bonheur-du-jour of exceptional quality by the one of Paris’s finest cabinetmakers.
Cosimo Castrucci was an artist in demand. Based in Florence and favoured by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I de’ Medici, he was a master of commesso di pietre dure. This was the making of decorative objects inlaid with semi-precious stones: objects that were ideal expressions of princely wealth and coveted by ruling elites as far afield as Mughal India.
Perhaps the greatest admirer of the art of stone inlay was the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II (r. 1576-1612), and in the 1590s he made Castrucci an offer he couldn’t refuse: a handsome salary, long-term imperial favour, and access to all the stones he could possibly wish for, if he relocated to Prague.
The emperor had moved his court to that city from Vienna at the start of the previous decade, and now sought to found a commesso workshop to rival those in the great Italian centres of production, Milan and Florence. (The latter boasted an official Medici-established workshop, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, which is still active to this day — though Castrucci seems to have been an independent master who operated outside it.)
By 1592, the emperor had got his man. A passport was issued for Castrucci that year, in which he was described as ‘His Majesty’s gem-cutter’.
This jewel-like bonheur-du-jour recounts a story that spans centuries and empires. Executed by the celebrated cabinetmaker Henry Dasson in late 19th century Paris, the cabinet prominently displays costly and rarefied masterpieces in pietra dura. The two Bohemian panels in each door are attributed to the talented Cosimo Castrucci, a sought after Florentine artisan engaged by the connoisseur Emperor Rudolf II to move to his capital in Prague in the late 16th century and become ‘his majesty’s gem-cutter’. Masterfully worked in Bohemian hardstones, these exquisite paintings in stone were evidence of the splendour of Rudolf’s court and an intention to establish Prague as a rival artistic capital to Florence and Rome. Appreciation for Castrucci’s work has endured as evinced by the panels’ installation, alongside a Florentine pietra dura plaque, into a bonheur-du-jour of exceptional quality by the one of Paris’s finest cabinetmakers.
Cosimo Castrucci was an artist in demand. Based in Florence and favoured by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I de’ Medici, he was a master of commesso di pietre dure. This was the making of decorative objects inlaid with semi-precious stones: objects that were ideal expressions of princely wealth and coveted by ruling elites as far afield as Mughal India.
Perhaps the greatest admirer of the art of stone inlay was the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II (r. 1576-1612), and in the 1590s he made Castrucci an offer he couldn’t refuse: a handsome salary, long-term imperial favour, and access to all the stones he could possibly wish for, if he relocated to Prague.
The emperor had moved his court to that city from Vienna at the start of the previous decade, and now sought to found a commesso workshop to rival those in the great Italian centres of production, Milan and Florence. (The latter boasted an official Medici-established workshop, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, which is still active to this day — though Castrucci seems to have been an independent master who operated outside it.)
By 1592, the emperor had got his man. A passport was issued for Castrucci that year, in which he was described as ‘His Majesty’s gem-cutter’.