AN ITALIAN SCAGLIOLIA TABLE TOP

The design of this scagliola top is based on pietre dure tops of the second half 17th/early 18th century, such as that presented by archduke Cosimo III of Florence to Prince Karl Albrecht of Bavaria in 1716 which is today at Schloss Nymphenburg. That table top with its stand was made in the ducal workshops in Florence after designs by Giovanni Battista Foggini (d. 1715) and Vittorio Crosten. The counterpart to the Nymphenburg example is today at Palazzo Pitti. Both table tops have the classically scrolling foliage with interspersed birds. The borders are differing between the two tables as the Nymphenburg example was re-worked, while the central parts were made in 1704 to the designs of the carver Crosten.