SQUARE PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Square table top. Marbles and hard stones. Inspired by Italian models from the 16th-17th centuries. A pearl necklace with a bow has been placed in the center of the board, on a black background. It is surrounded by an area of plant scrolls, flowers and perched birds framed with a band of simplified scrolls. On the outside, eight fish facing each other with a ball and a crown have been placed in the corners, placed on an architectural motif, visually united by vegetal scrolls. This inlay, called “hard stone work”, which uses colored marbles and stones with a hardness greater than 6 on the Mohs scale, emerged in Florence, thanks to the attempt of Piero de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent to revitalize and update a technique mosaic called “opus sectile” used in Ancient Rome. It had such a success in the European courts that, since the 17th century, a series of workshops were created following its example, among which we must highlight the Gobelin Factory in France, the Royal Workshop of Naples and the one established by Charles III in the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro in Madrid, which continued in operation until the beginning of the 19th century. Stylistically, they began with a striking variety of motifs, but, from around 1600, naturalistic ones were generally preferred (flowers, fruits, butterflies, birds...). Table tops, plates, desks, vases, etc. were made with this technique, always for the high aristocracy and royalty due to the very high prices of these works, due to the high specialization required since, very often, it had to be imported. the raw material (lapis lazuli, agates, Belgian black marble used to be for the backgrounds...). The present example is heir to this important tradition, whose influence is demonstrated by comparing it with works such as those of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, the Roman panel from towards the end of the 16th century (inventory 62,259) in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, or the one made in Naples by Francesco Ghinghi around the middle of the 18th century (inventory O00511) preserved in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

· Size: 90x90 cms.