ITALIE- FLORENCE -XIXe Siècle Lot n° 22

PRECIOUS CABINET Ebony, hard stones and micro mosaics, bronzes Signed G. CASTAGNOLI and dated 1872 H. 200 cm, L. 116 cm, P. 43 cm Provenance Family Capel Cure Woodbridge, Suffolk. Cabinet mentioned in a manuscript inventory dated June 20, 1935 Bibliography Monique Riccardi-Cubitt, Un Art européen. Le Cabinet de la Renaissance à l'Époque moderne, éd. de l'Amateur, Paris, 1993 (1992), p. 154 Architectural cabinet, facade with door decorated with two lapis lazuli columns and five drawers. It is surmounted by antique bronze figures and punctuated by a balustrade with balls shaped in hard stone, agate, amethyst... The whole front of this cabinet with panels and medallions in marble marquetry and hard stones called commesso. Decoration of birds, butterflies, flowers, musical trophies. In the 16th century, Florence improves this technique which will be called Florentine hard stone marquetry, and will be exported to France by Domenico Gucci who worked at the Gobelins Manufacture and supplied many cabinets for the royal collections. The 19th century marks a nostalgic return to the Florentine cabinets of the 17th century with the creation of furniture of impeccable technical execution. An example close to ours and reproduced by Monique Riccardi- Cubitt in her study devoted to the history of the cabinet in Europe from the Renaissance to the modern era (fig.1). The ebony base opens with a central drawer forming a writing desk and contains a rare series of four micro mosaic panels representing views of the Roman Forum, Castel Sant'Angelo and the Temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli. Fig 1 : Ebony cabinet inlaid with hard stones and lapis lazuli in the style of the early 17th century. Florence around 1870