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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A beautiful and fine quality Restauration specimen marble and semi-precious stone gueridon, the octagonal top featuring Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Alsatian Jasper, Mother of Pearl, and Giallo Antico marble on a Paragone marble ground and corresponding moulded border, exquisitely decorated with radiating flowers and foliage within rosette-shaped panels above a Marquini marble baluster support on a corresponding concave-sided tripartite platform on three ball feet Italy, probably Rome, date circa 1830-40 Height 75 cm, diameter of top 62 cm. This extremely beautiful specimen marble and semi-precious stone table with its intricately designed top is typical of the work of the Italian marmisti (marble workers) and was probably made in Rome. The Roman workshops were the leaders in this field although similar types were made in Florence and Naples. The revival of this craft during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century followed excavations of ancient marbles and was encouraged by the influx of wealthy foreigners on the Grand Tour who were eager to purchase such specimen works. Among the most notable Roman marble workers was Francesco Sibilio who flourished as a marble craftsman and merchant during the 1820’s and 30’s. His productions included a number of fine intaglio tabletops, which as here included Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, various marbles as well as glass. His contemporaries included Giovanni Rossignani who was recorded as one of the maestri in the workshops of the Reveranda Fabbrica di san Pietro in Rome, where Sibilio probably also worked. |