Posted 5 years ago
aesthete1880
(29 items)
This is a beautiful Italian pietra dura and iron table featuring a central blue and white iris. The irises are made of inlaid stone, including lapis lazuli (blue petals), chalcedony (leaves), and alabaster or marble (white petals). Sometimes referred to as painting in stone, pietra dura requires painstaking attention to the selection of the hardstone (for color, variation, and veining); delicate cutting of the surround (black marble in this case, likely backed by slate) and individual pieces; and a fitting together of the myriad pieces into a seamless mosaic. The stone underside of this table is marked, Made in Italy, Firenze, Gen. 1928, "Bencini".
All comments are welcome, especially help identifying the various stones used in this piece.
What an absolutely stunning piece - thanks for sharing!
IronLace, thank you for your comment! We lucked upon this one and loved it because of the irises (one of our favorite flowers) and the obvious quality of the piece. In real life, the irises look almost three-dimensional!
well i disagree with ironlace, because this is far better than absolutely stunning
it is superbed stacked in the transitions and there aren,t ruptures in the surronding rim
and the table is almost in a complete equilibrium and there is not the slightest sag
it is awfull hard to sample, even for my databanks, but let,s call an very easy 4 figures
nothing to add about the inlaid stones, congrats so buy yourselve a crate of dom perignon or put in an museum