PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Round tabletop in marble and hard stones. “Vineyards and grapes”. Inspired by Italian designs from the 16th and 17th centuries. Circular tabletop with a motif of vine leaves and black and white grapes in the center against a black background. An outer band, marked with two white lines, highlights this element and displays a variegated composition of various flowers and stems with leaves. This form of marquetry, called "hardstone work," uses marbles of different colors and veins, and stones with a Mohs hardness greater than 6. Lapis lazuli and Belgian black marble were frequently used for backgrounds, and, as was often the case with these materials, they had to be imported, hence the high price of these pieces. Desks, furniture, vases, plaques, and other items were made for the high aristocracy and the courts in various European workshops. The technique originated in Florence, thanks to the interest of Piero de' Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent in revitalizing a Roman mosaic technique (opus sectile). From 1600 onwards, naturalistic motifs were preferred over other themes, and other important production centers were established: in France, the Gobelins Manufactory; the Royal Workshop of Naples took over from the Florentine workshop when the Medici dynasty died out; in Spain, Charles III established another workshop at the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro, which disappeared at the beginning of the 19th century. The present example is inspired by this tradition. Compare with works preserved in important collections: those preserved in the Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, the table in the Prado Museum in Madrid made by Francesco Ghinghi in the Royal Laboratory of Pietre Dure in Naples (catalog number O00511), or the panel “Parrot perched on a pear tree” created in the workshops of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence and preserved in the Kremlin Museum in Moscow (Russia).

· Size: Diam. 120 cms.