AN ITALIAN PIETRE DURE AND GREEN-PAINTED CENTRE TABLE

Pietro Bazzanti established the 'Galleria Bazzanti' at Lungarno Corsini 12, Florence in 1822 to exhibit the gallery's work. Though they were predominantly renowned for sculpture, their gallery also displayed spectacular pietre dure and hardstone inlay table tops intended for Grand Tour visitors. The 1900 edition of F. Pineider, Handbook of Florence & its environs... & catalogue of the galleries, lists the firm twice under small commercial enterprises, initially as 'Mosaics', and later as 'Sculptor dealers' (pp. VI, VIII); this directory written in English was evidently for wealthy European tourists. The firm exhibited at many of the great international exhibitions of the period, including the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and the Boston exhibition of 1883.
The ornamentation of their table tops demonstrated the 19th century reinterpretation of naturalistic designs that had evolved in the Grand Ducal workshops in the 17th century. Giltwood centre tables incorporating pietre dure tops bearing the label of Pietro Bazzanti sold Christie's, London, 5 July 1990, lot 40 and 29 November 1990, lot 267. The latter relates to a Florentine tabletop with representational floral and fauna decoration, circa 1860, unsigned, in the Gilbert Collection (A.M. Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection, Hardstones, London, 2000, p. 108, fig. 35).