A VENETIAN SHELL-WORK PICTURE

MID-19TH CENTURY

Details
A VENETIAN SHELL-WORK PICTURE
mid-19th century
Depicting a garden pavilion against blossoming trees and painted sky background, inlaid with shells, glass, stones and other materials, within a contemporary molded giltwood frame
23½in. (60cm.) high, 29½in. (75cm.) wide

Lot Essay

A closely related pair of shell pictures with classical buildings of similar arcaded form from the collection of the Hon. Mrs Daisy Fellowes, Donnington Grove, Berkshire was sold Dreweatt Neate house sale , 1 May 1991, lot 180. The technique of creating elaborately carved pictorial scenes from shell and coral derives from the celebrated Trapani wares of Sicily which are recorded as early as the sixteenth century(see V. Abbate et al.,Coralli, 1986, p.25). A centerpiece of classical ruins in carved coral and gilt bronze in the Museo Regionale Pepoli, Trapani, is illustrated op.cit., p.346, cat.158.