Ebony veneered MEDIUM TABLE, the top decorated... - Lot 138 - Osenat

Lot 138
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Estimation :
20000 - 30000 EUR
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Result : 390 000EUR
Ebony veneered MEDIUM TABLE, the top decorated... - Lot 138 - Osenat
Ebony veneered MEDIUM TABLE, the top decorated in pietra dura including agate, chalcedony and jasper depicting a lively landscape of a stream crossed by a bridge, with a village in the background and a winged figure in the foreground. 17th century Prague, attributed to the Castrucci workshop. In a polychrome intarsia frame of jasper, agate, lapis lazuli and gold leaf on a rosso antico background, stylized rosettes in the spandrels, in a scroll, flower and foliage surround, various chalcedony, Sicilian jasper, lapis lazuli and labradorite motifs. The scalloped belt, encircled by an astragal chased with masks, palmettes and foliate scrolls in reserves, opens to a drawer and rests on ormolu console legs depicting atlantes supported by stylized griffins on acanthus leaves, joined by a later-period X-shaped brace inlaid with pewter fillets (restorations, a few accidents and chips, minor oxidation). H :74 W :80 D :45.5 cm In 1592, Emperor Rudolf II lured Cosimo Castrucci, the Florentine "gioielliere", to Prague to set up a workshop imitating the Florentine hardstone technique. The Emperor, a lover of precious stones, admired these works for their use of precious materials, their scientific and alchemical properties, and the "magical" virtues of the stones. In Prague, unlike Florence, there were no artists to provide chromatic models for lapidaries or "commessi". The difficulty of relying mainly on monochrome engravings paradoxically led to an impressive creative effort and the explosion of color visible in the Castrucci works. Pieter Bruegel, Paul Bril, Pieter Stevens and Aegidius Sadeler are their sources of inspiration. A panel1 signed and dated 1596 is considered Cosimo Castrucci's first work for the imperial court in Prague, inspired by the painting Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which arrived in Prague in 1595.Contrary to Florentine tradition, the Castrucci's developed the landscape as their main subject. As evidenced by the decoration on the tabletop we are presenting, with incredible meticulousness, they used several rare stones, some of which are specific to Prague: agate, chalcedony and Bohemian jasper.The chromatic palette reflects the soul of the northern countries more than the Italian one, notably in the tones used to subdivide space: dark green and brown stones for the foreground, then the horizon in a lighter tone and the grayish northern sky, represented not with lapis lazuli as in Florence for azure skies, but with pale stones that give the impression of a milky opalescence. The pietre dura workshop in Prague employed three successive generations of Castrucci, from Cosimo to his son Giovanni and then his grandson, Cosimo di Giovanni, all distinguished by the virtuoso quality of their work, derived from their heritage of goldsmithing and Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini. Pandolfini was Giovanni Castrucci's son-in-law, and ran the Castrucci workshop after Giovanni's death until production ceased in Prague in 1624. 1- now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. KK 3037; published in W. Koeppe and Annamaria Giusti (eds.) , op. cit. p. 219, no. 66) Bibliography : - Annamaria Giusti, Roberto Valeriani, Chiara Teolato, Petre Dure, Hardstones, Marbles, Mosaics, London 2019 - Annamaria Giusti, Pietre Dure, the Art of Semiprecious Stonework, London 2006, p.112-131. - Anna Maria Massinelli, Hardstones, the Gilbert Collection, London 2000, p.29-31. - Annamaria Giusti,Splendori di Pietre Dure, Florence, 21 dicembre 1988 - 30 aprile 1989, p. - Ferdinando Rossi, La Pittura di Pietra, 1984 Giunti Martello Ed. p.138-140.Provenance:this table has been in this private collection since the 1970s. Expert : Marie de La CHEVARDIÈRE
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