Box Springbok 500pc 19thC Table of the Muses - Hardstone Marquetry Pietre Dure DSC09639
Neo-Classical master work produced 1837-1851 at the Opicicio delle Pitre Dure in Florence, to cartoons by Giorgi in a flat decorative style, and costing 100,000 scudi. At the time it was acclaimed as the finest tabletop done in over two centuries. (The table base was designed at the end in an incongruous style.) It was the last major work done for the Grand Dukes of the Italian Duchy States - in this case for Leopoldo II of Tuscany, last of a dynasty returned after the settlement at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, who commissioned the table for his authentic redecoration of Palazzo Pitti. Florence was briefly resurgent as the cultural centre before political pressures externally and internally led to the 1848 revolutions and ultimately the unification of Italy.
The Table is 6ft across with a background of lapis lazuli with a decorative structure set up by with light classical stonework swags and borders (including lion masks) of iron pyrites. Apollo in his chariot forms the centrepiece, fabricated in yellow jasper. The nine muses - in the form of their attributes - occupy the nine cells surrounding their pupil Apollo. Most of the semi-precious stones are varieties of quartz: opaque jaspers and chalcedonies, agates and onyxes, transparent amethysts and red carnelians. Two magnificent floral borders complete the design. The flowers are recognisable, from all seasons and the entire world, and all symbolically relate to the muses and to the work of the patron Leopold who ha restored Florence's Botanical Gardens.
Clio - History - papyrus scroll
Euterpe - Inventress of Music - various instruments
Thalia - Comedy - tambourine and oak-leaf crown
Melpomene - Tragedy - theatrical tragedy mask with vine leaves
Terpsichore - Dance - primitive instrument of tortoiseshell & rams horns
Erato - Lyric Poetry - lyre of Apollo
Polyhymnia - Eloquence - floral wreath
Urania - zodiac with rod of astronomy
Calliope - Heroic Poetry - writing tablets & stylus.
Summarised from box text by Ronald Millen.
Box Springbok 500pc 19thC Table of the Muses - Hardstone Marquetry Pietre Dure DSC09639
Neo-Classical master work produced 1837-1851 at the Opicicio delle Pitre Dure in Florence, to cartoons by Giorgi in a flat decorative style, and costing 100,000 scudi. At the time it was acclaimed as the finest tabletop done in over two centuries. (The table base was designed at the end in an incongruous style.) It was the last major work done for the Grand Dukes of the Italian Duchy States - in this case for Leopoldo II of Tuscany, last of a dynasty returned after the settlement at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, who commissioned the table for his authentic redecoration of Palazzo Pitti. Florence was briefly resurgent as the cultural centre before political pressures externally and internally led to the 1848 revolutions and ultimately the unification of Italy.
The Table is 6ft across with a background of lapis lazuli with a decorative structure set up by with light classical stonework swags and borders (including lion masks) of iron pyrites. Apollo in his chariot forms the centrepiece, fabricated in yellow jasper. The nine muses - in the form of their attributes - occupy the nine cells surrounding their pupil Apollo. Most of the semi-precious stones are varieties of quartz: opaque jaspers and chalcedonies, agates and onyxes, transparent amethysts and red carnelians. Two magnificent floral borders complete the design. The flowers are recognisable, from all seasons and the entire world, and all symbolically relate to the muses and to the work of the patron Leopold who ha restored Florence's Botanical Gardens.
Clio - History - papyrus scroll
Euterpe - Inventress of Music - various instruments
Thalia - Comedy - tambourine and oak-leaf crown
Melpomene - Tragedy - theatrical tragedy mask with vine leaves
Terpsichore - Dance - primitive instrument of tortoiseshell & rams horns
Erato - Lyric Poetry - lyre of Apollo
Polyhymnia - Eloquence - floral wreath
Urania - zodiac with rod of astronomy
Calliope - Heroic Poetry - writing tablets & stylus.
Summarised from box text by Ronald Millen.