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Lot Essay
Although dating from the mid-19th century, this cabinet on stand combines much of what one associates with the glories of 17th century Italian furniture. The upper part combines an architectural form with tiers of paired columns and lively gilded statuary, together with panels of pietra dura, redolent of the cabinets produced in Florence. The stand, with its dynamic supporting figures, recalls the Baroque sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the carved furniture of Rome and Venice. Although uncommon, the combination of this type of cabinet with a sculptural support was not unknown in the 17th century.
Long before the foundation of the Galleria dei Lavory by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Florence in the late 16th century, pietra dura had been held in high esteem. The Florentine workshops themselves became justly famous for their production of decorative panels of pietra dura, often featuring flowers, birds and landscapes, and have continued up to the present time. Their fame, however, has tended to suppress an awareness of other centres, for example in Rome and Naples, and the use of starightforward panels of coloured marble, rather than pictorial work, as in this cabinet, can often be associated with Rome.
In 1841, the Tuscan scholar Antonio Zobi published a study on Florentine hardstone inlay, which was republished in an expanded edition in 1853. The work was conceived as a celebration of the Galleria dei Lavori, lauding the original founders, the Medici, as well as the more recent Habsburg-Lorraine, who later ruled Tuscany. This publication became an important source of reference and, together with the broadly based admiration for, and emulation of, historical styles, promoted from the middle of the 19th century by the staging of major exhibitions, helped to revive interest in the use of precious materials.
Long before the foundation of the Galleria dei Lavory by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in Florence in the late 16th century, pietra dura had been held in high esteem. The Florentine workshops themselves became justly famous for their production of decorative panels of pietra dura, often featuring flowers, birds and landscapes, and have continued up to the present time. Their fame, however, has tended to suppress an awareness of other centres, for example in Rome and Naples, and the use of starightforward panels of coloured marble, rather than pictorial work, as in this cabinet, can often be associated with Rome.
In 1841, the Tuscan scholar Antonio Zobi published a study on Florentine hardstone inlay, which was republished in an expanded edition in 1853. The work was conceived as a celebration of the Galleria dei Lavori, lauding the original founders, the Medici, as well as the more recent Habsburg-Lorraine, who later ruled Tuscany. This publication became an important source of reference and, together with the broadly based admiration for, and emulation of, historical styles, promoted from the middle of the 19th century by the staging of major exhibitions, helped to revive interest in the use of precious materials.