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Descrizione : end of 16th century the table-top is divided into three parts by two strips which are identical to the outer border, and separate the square central section from the rectangular sections on either side of it. The square part is centred by an octagon of lapis lazuli, surrounded by panels of jasper and rhomboid-shaped stones which form a larger octagon, at whose corners are four cartouches of amethyst. The two rectangular sections show a central oval of lapis lazuli, flanked by double, curvilinear cartouches. on a gilt-bronze mounted, ebony and amaranth table, English, probably circa 1830, the panelled frieze mounted with a gilt-bronze border cast with shell motifs, the front and the back frieze centred by a panel with interlaced initials (JlJl), on four square panelled legs in the form of columns, the capitols cast similarly to the frieze, on square block feet joined by a shaped stretcher, Table top: 137cm. wide, 80cm. deep, 4ft. 6in., 2ft. 7Iin., The stand: 79cm. high, 134cm. wide, 76cm. deep, 2ft. 7in., 4ft.4in., 2ft 6in. Published: A. Gonzalez-Palacios, in Splendori di pietre dure, Exhibition catalogue, Florence (Palazzo Pitti), 1988, pp. 92-93, as executed either in Rome or Florence in the last quarter of the Sixteenth Century, A.M. Giusti, Pietre Dure. Hardstone in Furniture and Decorations, London, 1992 p. 16, as executed either in Rome or Florence in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. Exhibited in Temporary Import: Splendori di Pietre Dure, L'Arte di Corte nella Firenze dei Granduchi, Florence, December 1988 to April 1989. The style of this rare table-top, entirely composed of hardstones, indicates that it was executed in the late sixteenth century. There is, in fact, a close connection between this table-top and a number of drawings, attributed with certainty to the Florentine architect, Giovanni Antonio Dosio (1533- c.1610) who was long active in Rome on more than one occasion. He knew well the important men of his time, including Bindo Altoviti, the rich banker for whom Giorgio Vasari designed a hardstone table-top, and Niccolo Gaddi, the collector, amateur architect, and propietor of a hardstone manufactory which pre-dated that of the Medici. Two of Dosio's sheets in the Uffizi show strong affinities to the work under discussion. The first (fig 1) of these is an octagon with curvilinear panels that are similar to the jasper ones in the central section of this table-top, the second (fig 2) shows stone inlay of geometric shapes and four heart-shaped cartouches also disposed around an octagon. Although the dating of these drawings is a matter of dispute they were probably executed in the 1570s or 1580s. It is not, however, possible to establish with certainty if they were made in Rome, as I am inclined to believe, or Florence. We do know that inlay in hardstones and coloured marbles began in Rome, but that artistic collaboration between the two cities was constant in this field from the mid sixteenth century onwards, at times, objects were begun in Rome and completed in Florence. This table-top is exceptional because only hardstones, which are costly and difficult to cut because of their siliceous nature, are used in the inlay. There are only three other known examples of table-tops where this is the case. The first of these is in the Museo degli Argenti, Florence, and shows a complicated, geometric pattern on a ground of white marble, the alternating circles, ovals and hexagons create a perspective illusion that expands and diminishes, like a figure in a kaleidoscope.1 The over-all pattern is more abstract than that of the table-top under discussion, where a naturalistic motif in the form of a red corolla with four petals appears in the rhombs around the central section and at the corners of the lateral sections. The second of these table-tops formerly belonged to the Duke of Westminster,2 (fig 3) while the third is in the Prado, Madrid (fig 4). Both were probably executed late in the sixteenth century, as was the cabinet, traditionally said to have belonged to Sixtus V (1585-1590) and housed at Stourhead since the eighteenth century,3 which also shows like panels (fig 5). These works have similar characteristics, the first of which is their division into complicated, geometrical patterns without naturalistic ornament, the table-top in Madrid also shows the motif of the corolla with four petals. They likewise share another common feature with the present table-top. The main, geometrically shaped panels of the inlay are surrounded by a ribbon-like border. This decorative solution was never used on works which were executed with certainty in Florence, not even on the hardstone table-top in the Museo degli Argenti, but is to be found instead on Roman artefacts of the same period, inlaid with coloured marbles. It, therefore, seems likely that the Westminster and Madrid table-tops, the present table-top and the cabinet, said to have been Sixtus V's, were made in Rome, while the table-top in the Museo degli Argenti was executed in Florence, possibly during the reign of the Grand-Duke Francesco I. Nothing is known about the exact provenance or date of execution of the works mentioned above, but it is now possible to say something more precise about the table-top in Madrid. The present writer has discovered that it was a gift from the Cardinal Michele Bonelli (1541 - 1598), called the Cardinal Alessandrino, to Philip II. The nephew of St. Pius V, Bonelli had been legate a latere to the king of Spain who gave him a pension and title of marquess. The document, which proves this, is presented here for the first time in relation to the Madrid table-top. It reads: una tavola lunga palmi tredici e larga palmi sei e mezzo in circa con fondo e profilo di marmo statuario, cornice e compartimento di marmo africano e mischio adornato di gioie lapislazuli, agate, corgniole diaspri et altre pietre preziose qual manda L'Illmo e R.o Monsignore il cardinale Alessandrino da Roma in Spagna, il quale per esser stato Camerlengo di Santa Chiesa e come Cardinale e esente da pagamento 22 8bre 1587.4 (a table-top of about thirteen palms in length and six and a half in width, with ground a profile in white statuary marble, band and compartment in 'african' and coloured marbles, adorned with jewels, lapis lazuli, agates, cornelians, jaspers and other precious stones, sent by the Most Illustrious and Reverend Cardinal Alessandrino from Rome to Spain, who because he was Chamberlain of Holy Mother Church and as Cardinal is exempted from impost 22 Dec. 1587.) A similar date can be adduced for the present table-top, the Westminster example, and the cabinet at Stourhead. Unfortunately, our knowledge about this particular aspect of the decorative arts in Rome at the turn of the seventeenth century is very limited, and is destined to remain so because, unlike Florence where artefacts of this kind were executed in one manufactory under the direct control of the ruler, there were many stone and marble masons active in the Eternal City at this time. Therefore, it seems opportune to marshal together a number of facts which may help to throw light on this subject. Curzio Vanni (c. 1555-1614) was one of the many Roman artisans who would have been able to fashion a table-top, like the present one. He came from a family of silversmiths, and was nominated jeweller to the Pope in 1599, an office he held until 1606.5 In 1598, he began to receive payments for the altar of the Blessed Sacrament in S. Giovanni in Laterano, where he worked with the architect and metal founder, Pompeo Targone (1575-1630). This decorative undertaking included much ornament in hardstone, as well as bronzes of high quality. In the same period, he again collaborated with Pompeo Targone on the finishings of the altar of St. Cecilia in the Roman basilica of that name. On 27 August 1600, Targone was paid for fourteen ovals of lapis lazuli for the decoration of the Saint's tomb, which shows to this day magnificent ornament in hardstone. Pompeo Taragone is an important artist. Like Vanni, he was born into a family of artisans. His father was a Venetian goldsmith who, among other things, executed 'commessi di pietre preziose assaiben fatti e lavoro diverse opere per vari Pricipi, molto ricche e belle' ('well-made mosaics of precious stones, and worked other things for various Princes which were very rich and beautiful'). Paul V called on Pompeo Targone to execute important works in the family chapel the pontiff was building in Santa Maria Maggiore. As well as major bronzes, Targone made in 1612, for example, four columns with a veneer of lapis lazuli in an ingenious manner which he himself had invented. Targone's role, as it were, of impresario in these monumental undertakings, is underlined by Giovanni Baglione, one of the most important biographers of the artists of this period, when he wrote: 'Pompeo Targone.... fece... mettere in opere i lavori de' metalli, getti e pietre dure di cui egli molto si intendeva' ('Pompeo Targone... saw... to the realisation of the works in metal, bronze and hardstones of which he had a great understanding').6 Baglione also mentions in the same passage the metal founder, Domenico Ferrerio (Ferrari, Ferreri), and his two tabernacles in bronze, hardstone and coloured marbles. These men were not the only artisans capable of executing works like these in Rome at this time. About 1600, a Master Donato from the Abruzzo cut fine lapis lazuli for the altar of St. Philip Neri in the church of Santa Mario in Vallicella.7 And, finally, Clement VIII granted Giacomo Antonio Cremona from Milan a monopoly patent in 1602 to work jewels, agates, lapis lazuli, jaspers and other stones. Cremona may have been related to Marcantonio and Melchiorre Cremona, both of whom were marble masons and inlayers, probably of coloured marbles, active in the Lateran. Melchiorre Cremona was console of the congregation of marble masons (lapicidorum) in 1591.8 Notes: 1. A. Gonzalez-Palacios, In Splendori di Pietre Dure, Exhibition catalogue, Florence (Palazzo Pitti), 1988, no. 9, A.M. Giusti, Pietre Dure. Hardstone in Furniture and Decorations, London, 1992, p.15., 2. A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Mosaici e Pietre Dure, Milan, 1981, II., p.14. The caption to the illustration states incorrectly that both hardstones and coloured marbles are used in the inlay, when only the former are employed, 3. A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Mosaici e Pietre Dure, p.17, A.M. Giusti, op.cit., p.16, 4. A. Bertolotti, 'Esportazioni di oggetti di belle arti da Roma in Spagna...', in Archivio Storico... della citta e provincia di Roma, 1880, V. IV, III, p.282. In the collection of Royal Spanish inventories which I have put together, this table-top appears regularly from 1631 until the 1834 will of Ferdinand VII, by which time it had been deposited in the Prado. After a reduction in size and the addition of a border in gilt-bronze between 1834 and 1844, the table-top measures 144.5 x 268.5 cm., which correspond reasonably well to the 145 x 290 cm. of the Roman palmi of the 1587 document. It should be noted that the table-tops of such large dimensions are extremely rare, the only one in Madrid which shares a similar size is the table-top of coloured marbles, formerly belonging to Don Rodrigo Calderon, which entered the Royal Collections during the reign of Philip IV., 5. C.G. Bulgari, 'Argentieri, gemmari e orafi d'Italia', Rome, 1955, II, p.512, A.M. Corbo, 'Fonti per la Storia artistica romana al tempo di Clemente VIII', Rome, 1975, passim., A.A.VV., 'Marmorari e argentieri a Roma e nel Lazio tra Cinquecento e Seicento', ed. by P. Peccolo, Rome, 1994, pp. 162 ff, J. Freiberg, The Lateran in 1600, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 305-306., 6. G. Baglione, 'Le vite de' Pittori...', Rome, 1649, pp. 329-331, and pp. 326 and 327, Bulgari, op. cit., p. 454., 7. A. Gonzalez-Palacios, in Splendori di pietre dure, p. 47, with earlier bibliography, 8. Corbo, op, cit., pp. 36, 159 and 160, A. Bertolotti, Artisti svizzeri in Roma, Bellinzona, 1886, p. 22. Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios Translated by Donald Garstang The base is very much in the taste of the furniture commissioned by William Beckford (1759-1844) and the Duke of Hamilton (d.1852) who were avid collectors of hardstone works of art. Interestingly the catalogue of the Duke of Hamilton's sale, in June 1882, reads as follows for lot 181, 'An oblong table, of old Florentine pietre dure mosaic, on carved and gilt stand, with square column legs and stretcher', 4ft. 3in., by 3ft. 5in. Estimate on Request.
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