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According to an inscription on the reverse of the old inlay, the former attribution was to Parmigianino. John A. Gere was the first to propose Polidoro´s authorship, in 1981, in a note on the modern museum mount. Paul Joannides confirmed the opinion of Gabriele Finaldi that the arrangement of the figures recalls that of Judith and her maid in the background of Michelangelo´s Judith Beheading Holof
Florentine Mosaic is a technique in which semiprecious stones are cut and assembled so that their different colors and grains form a pictorial composition. This term reflects the fact that the technique emerged in 16th-century Florence with a degree of perfection that has since been equaled, but never surpassed. Its origins undoubtedly lie in classic mosaic—Roman opus sectile—as the technique is e
This table`s exquisitely made top is based on a painting by Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721-1797) which is also in the Prado (P07824). The central scene depicts figures in a port, of which the two in the oriental style are based on works by Giambattista Tiepolo. The table was made by Italian craftsmen summoned to Madrid by Charles III to establish the Royal Hardstone Laboratory.
This table has the image of a painting of a seascape and its frame, back to front, as well as playing cards, various chips, a ruler, a hammer, a compass and other carpentry tools, two buckles, a key ring and various drawings over a touchstone or black Belgian marble background. The representation of the images is directly based on famous compositions by French painter Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), wh
A table with two images of paintings (a seascape and a landscape) on a background of touchstone or Belgian black marble. Various books, a checkerboard, a small cup and a bag have been haphazardly arranged around them. The representation of the images is directly based on famous compositions by French painter Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), whose work was much appreciated by Charles III and Charles IV.
Cuadro de piedras duras, seguramente realizado en los últimos años de actividad del Real Laboratorio de Piedras Duras del Buen Retiro (1762-1808), bajo la dirección de Luis Poggetti. Este y otros cinco cuadros más aparecen citados en la Testamentaría de Fernando VII de 1834 y en el inventario manuscrito del Prado de 1857. En una serie de documentos de 1811 se mencionan los cincos cuadros de mosaic
This tabletop forms a pair with O00467. Both were made at the Royal Manufactory founded by Charles III in Naples in 1737. This piece of ebony furniture made by Gaspero Donnini has heads carved by Giovanni Morghen at its four corners. They allude to the four seasons. The legs end in horse´s hooves as part of an elegant naturalist décor, which is repeated in the decoration of the top, with ab
Commissioned by Pedro Tellez Girón, Duke of Osuna and Viceroy of Sicily (1574-1624). The German artist Jacopo di Gian Flasch made the Duke’s coat of arms, and Jacopo Ligozzi, the designer of the Florentine Grand-ducal hardstone workshops, the flower-filled vases.
A vessel with a diminished arch profile, somewhat everted, and a round mouth, standing on a ring support. It is coated on the inside with a fine sheet of gold, and on the outside with a mosaic formed by 791 fragments of turquoise. The pattern consists of a band with a salient moulding running around the lip, and a latticed field of stalks, leaves and flowers, similar to that on vessel O-70 of the
This is rare type of tabletop that combines Roman Mannerist elements such as the border with pre-Baroque ones such as the exuberant floral and foliate motif that fills the centre. This motif replaces the central alabaster oval to be found in other compositions.
This hardstone panel was made in the Real Laboratorio del Buen Retiro, a manufactory founded by Charles III in Madrid in 1762. Employing specialists summoned from Naples, where the King had established a similar institution, it was active until 1808. This example seems to date from the last years of the Madrid manufactory’s activity.
Corals, pearls, shells, fruit and flowers are arranged on the table with wide Lapis-lazuli borders. The central scene has a light chalcedony background framed by a garland with an asymmetrical rocaille. It shows two men playing badminton while others dance near an obelisk. The scene of ball players with various figures chatting in a landscape with classical architecture—the basalt lion from the Ca
Two men play skittles among Roman ruins in a setting that recalls Venetian view paintings or vedute. The scene is framed by a border with fruit, musical and scientific instruments, books and a tray with a towel and a silver jug. The base follows the Neapolitan style of the first half of the century. The pair to this table is in the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon.
The design of this tabletop is not structured into compartments but the motifs are freely combined, spreading into the border framing it. It is listed in the auction of Rodrigo Calderón, secretary to Philip III. It appears to have suffered some damage in the fire at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid in 1734.
This mosaic was made at the Royal Laboratory of Gemstones of the Buen Retiro. Made using a sophisticated technique of hardstone inlay, this tabletop is based on a painting by Gaspare Vanvitelli in the Museo del Prado (P-2463). It depicts a place particularly popular with 18th-century travellers; an impressive Roman tunnel near Naples, excavated from the rock and located next to the columbarium hou
The table bears shells, fruit and flowers over ample lapis-lazuli borders. The central scene has a light chalcedony background and is framed by a garland with an asymmetrical rocaille. The scene of ball players with various figures chatting in a landscape with classical architecture—the basalt lion from the Capitolino and the pyramid of Cestius, both in Rome—is taken from models that Giuseppe Zocc
Un óvalo grande de alabastro orientale, sobre un rectángulo de paragone con motivos florales (en giallo antico, rosso antico, semesanto y portasanta). Presenta una cenefa con cartelas sobre un fondo de giallo antico con incrustaciones de rosso antico, lumachella, africano y alabastro listato. La tipología de esta obra romana es del mismo género que la de otros ejemplares conservados en el Museo de
This tabletop has a geometrical decoration with a large central oval framed by two volutes. The border combines ovals and diamonds with floral motifs. A similar type of decoration is to be found on the walls of a number of seventeeth-century Roman chapels.
