An Italian gilt-bronze mounted pietre dure ebony casket, the panels second half 17th century, the casket probably 19th century

The present casket is a fine example of the types of caskets in ebony and inset with pietre dure panels produced in Florence and more specifically of the influence of the Grand Ducal Workshop (Galleria dei Lavori) which monopolized the style and quality these caskets aspired to adopt in the last quarter of the 17th and early years of the 18th century. As time went on, the shape of the caskets from the Galleria dei Lavori became more complex, and started to incorporate polished hardstones in imitation of fruit and rich gilt-bronze ornaments to the corners, the present being quite unusual with scrolls and grotesque masks.

The Galleria dei Lavori, which was originally founded by Ferdinand I Medici in 1588, consisted of a number of studios or workshops for the carpenters, cabinet makers, woodcarvers, goldsmiths, draughtsmen, gilders and hardstone carvers who carried out the intricate work of ‘fitting together’ hardstones and marble compositions. The main objects produced in the Galleria dei Lavori were table tops, caskets, cabinets and various furniture pieces inset with pietre dure panels. The primary objective of the workshops were to furnish the grand Duke’s residences, but many of their creations also ended up as diplomatic gifts. The workshops’ fame and type of production not only reached local craftsmen in Toscana and Italy but also other countries. For example, Louis XIV consciously tried to emulate their success when he created the Gobelins workshops in 1667, and imported Italian craftsmen such as Domenico Cucci.

Related examples were sold at Replica Shoes ’s London, 4 July 2012, lot 7; Replica Shoes ’s New York, 20 May 2014, lot 224, and Christie’s London, 7 July 2005, lot 342.