CIRCULAR PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Circular table top in marble and hard stones. Inspired by Italian models from the 16th-17th centuries. In the center of the board, surrounded by a garland of flowers, a pearl necklace with a bow has been placed. Around this element, there are four vases with birds perched on interspersed branches and, further outwards, a band with vegetal scrolls. This area is framed by another with simplified scrolls and another with more elaborate ones interspersed with venerated shapes and heraldic shields, and perched birds. The fleur-de-lis on the edge clearly shows the influence of the Gobelin works on this panel. The French workshop was created with the aim of making this type of inlay for the court of this country, and is heir to the native center of “hard stone work”: the Florence of Piero de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent, who wanted to revive a Roman technique called “opus sectile” mosaic. It is also necessary to mention the Royal Workshop of Naples and the one created by Carlos III in the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro in Madrid, which closed at the beginning of the 19th century. After 1600, the primacy of decoration is clear, as they appeared in the 15th century, and elements such as birds, butterflies and pearl necklaces were added over time. The present example inherits all this tradition: compare with the table made by Francesco Ghinghi in the Real Laboratorio Delle Piedre Dure in Naples (catalog number O00511) and the tabletop (O00466) from around the middle of the 18th century, both in the Prado Museum from Madrid, those preserved in the Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence (especially works such as the board made as a model for a table by Jacopo LIgozzi around 1610). Traditionally, a technique very similar to inlay was used, but using, instead of wood, marbles of different colors and veins and hard stones (greater than 6 on the Mohs scale) such as lapis lazuli, agates... In this example, They have included many of those used in works from the 16th and 18th centuries, which makes it an outstanding work.

· Size: Diam. 150 cms.