AN INLAID, PAINTED AND COPPER APPLIED PEDESTAL**

Considered one of Europe's most beautiful and flamboyant female celebrities, Luisa Casati (1881-1957) married the Marchese Camillo Casati, a young Milanese aristocrat, in 1900. Casati traveled to Paris and throughout Italy where she lived in palaces and collected unusual animals. She became known for her patronage of artists, frequently serving as their muse and forming lasting relationships with them.