PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Square tabletop. Hard stones and marbles. The center has been set against a black background to further highlight the border decorated with geometric elements framed by shields and simple shapes. The technique, very similar to wood marquetry, is inspired by examples made in Italy and other important centers in France and Spain from the 16th to the 18th centuries, but the decorative motifs are more closely related to the earliest examples from Medici Florence, before plants and birds became the main theme of these tables.