RECTANGULAR PIETRA DURA TABLETOP. MARBLE AND HARDSTONES.

Rectangular table top in marbles and hard stones. Inspired by Italian models from the 16th-17th centuries. Two axes of flowers have been placed in the center flanked by vegetable scrolls facing each other and with a geometric arrangement. This motif is framed by a white line that forms diamonds on the smaller sides, along with another blue line. Towards the outside, another band leaves square spaces in the corners with simplified flowers and simple scrollwork. A wide blue band and a narrower one in white are towards the outside. The technique known as “hard stone working” is similar to marquetry, but uses different colored marbles and stones with a hardness greater than 6 on the Mohs scale instead of wood. It was born in Florence, with the attempt carried out by Piero de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent to revitalize an Ancient Roman mosaic technique called “opus sectile”. Such was the success that workshops multiplied throughout Europe, among which the Gobelin Factory in France, the Royal Workshop of Naples (which took over from the Medici workshop) and the one established at the Royal Site of El Buen Retiro de Madrid by Carlos III, which had the support of quality local specialists but which was closed by Napoleon in 1808 and destroyed in 1812. The objects made (desks, tables, vases, plates...) at first showed a great decorative variety, but, from around 1600, a clear prominence of naturalistic elements over geometric ones was noted: flowers, fruits, birds, pearls, butterflies... The present example is heir to this tradition, as demonstrated by comparing it with works such as the table in the Museo del Prado in Madrid made by Francesco Ghinghi at the Real Laboratorio Delle Piedre Dure in Naples (catalogue number O00511), or the board from the late 16th or early 17th centuries created in Rome (inventory 62,259) at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or those kept at the Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence or the examples at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid. However, it is necessary to highlight the update towards more contemporary tastes that can be seen in the geometric game made with the white and blue bands.

· Size: 150x90 cms.