IMAGE DETAILS

Desmet Fine Arts

Pietra dura table top
Coloured marble, alabaster and onyx
Roman workshop, circa 1565-1600
H 6 x W 104.5 x D 83 cm
Accompanied by Art Loss Register certificate: S00253658
Provenance: private collection, Lombardy (Italy)

The pietra dura tabletop represents a symbiosis that evokes the rediscovery of the ancient world. The colored marbles used all originate from ancient Roman marble, brought to Rome from across the Roman Empire as early as the 3rd century BCE. In late 16th-century Rome, artists repurposed columns and all manner of these ancient Roman artifacts, reshaping them into sumptuous tabletops to decorate the grand palazzi.

This work visualizes how 16th-century Rome sought to reclaim the identity and power of the great Roman Empire, and it must be fully understood within the context of the decoration of St. Peter’s Basilica, when Rome was once again regarded as the center of the world.

The patterns are architecturally and geometrically designed to showcase the rarest marbles to their fullest effect. In this specific example, around 1800, the edge underwent restoration, during which the finest artists of the time added a black decorative band. Their aim was to frame what was already spectacular with a dignified restoration.

Although created in the late 16th century, this piece radiates two millennia of superiority—politically, socially, artistically, and art historically.