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Tabletop with fruits, flowers and birds

The tabletop, with which we begin our work on the research and conservation of this group of objects from the Pushkin State Museum, depicts a magnificent paradise garden with various ripe fruits, fragile fresh flowers, insects and birds. Of course, the hidden symbolism of each flower and fruit was known to the educated collectors, but it was not the main feature of such inlaid panels. The main feature remained the admiration of “naturalia” and nature as the most exquisite masterpiece. The primary purpose of both mosaics and three-dimensional objects in the pietre dure technique was to improve the aesthetic and natural qualities of the stones and to demonstrate their fascinating fusion. The Dominican monk Agostino del Riccio (1541-1598) wrote in his treatise of 1597 about the work with semi-precious stones as an excellent opportunity to use an ancient material — a stone of local origin — to reflect the modern passion for science and art1. In turn, the French abbot Richard (1720(?) - circa 1800) wrote about the same material in his Historical and Critical Description of Italy (1770): "Florentine mosaics are very expensive because of the value of the materials that are used for them, and because of the long time it takes to produce them. The most valuable marbles, agates, garnets, sardonyxes, corals, mother of pearl, lazurite, jasper, emeralds and topazes are part of these extraordinary paintings"2.

The composition, images, selection of stones, decorative techniques found in the decoration of the tabletop from the State Museum of Fine Arts indicate that it was created by the masters of Galleria dei Lavori. Based on comparisons with famous mosaics, we may consider the second half of the 17th century to be the time when the object was made. The closest analogy to this work is the tabletop from the Louvre collection. It is correlated with the record in the preserved inventory of the collection of Louis XIV (1638-1715) about commissioning paired tabletops with flower wreaths in 1663 and their delivery to the palace in 16683. The second similar work is a mosaic set that belongs to the Museum of Art History in Vienna and dates back to the first half of the 17th century4. Here, the style of the design is slightly different from the tops from the Louvre and the Pushkin State collections, but the colours and main elements clearly indicate that they originate from the same compositional sketch. The mosaic tabletop with coats of arms (added later), from the collection of Sir William Paston (1610-1663)5 which is now in a private collection, is another similar work. The mosaic is close to the Viennese one and dates from around 1625.

The existence of several similar sets found at different times may be indicative of the recognizability and popularity of a particular composition and probably of an earlier modello that was shown to foreign customers. The mosaics were to represent the Grand Duke's Workshop, so despite the variation in the styles of different masters and the unique natural patterns of materials, the colour scheme and basics of the composition were not to be changed.

It is believed that the preparatory drawings for this group of tabletops date back to the graphic works of Jacopo Ligozzi, who became the first artistic director of the Workshop. Prior to his appointment, Ligozzi had already made a name for himself as an artist who created magnificent naturalistic sketches of flora and fauna, the brightest examples of which he could see in Florence among other places. The Medici family not only collected ancient sculpture, gems and other unique pieces, but also for several generations were fond of garden art, cultivation of curious and fashionable plants, and keeping birds and animals. All this colourful variety Ligozzi and other not less talented artists transferred to the works of art created by Galleria dei Lavori with incredible accuracy. A fragment of one of the best botanical gardens in Europe at the time — the Garden of the Medici — seems to have frozen forever in the stone mosaics of this Workshop.

When it comes to defining certain species of flora and fauna in the mosaic, it is often possible to do it only tentatively. The colour of flowers, and birds’ plumage may depend on both the imagination of the artist and the availability of a stone of a particular shade. It is also impossible to rely on the size of the depicted species, as while the proportions between parts of one plant are preserved, the ratio between the sizes of different species does not correspond to reality (for example, the size of plum and pear fruits). The number of plant and bird species depicted in Florentine mosaics of the period is limited: about 40 plants and 15-20 bird species. In addition, different masters could depict the same plant, for example, with a different number of petals. Thus, the plant depicted on the tabletop under consideration, tentatively called dogwood, has four petals, and in similar works the flower has five petals. In this case, the plant may not belong to the said species. Besides, this plant cannot have flowers and ripe fruits at the same time.

The parrot is a favourite motif in the Florentine mosaic. These birds were kept in large numbers in captivity, easily tamed, could speak several languages, and were valued for the brightness and uniqueness of the plumage. Frequent characters in Florentine mosaics are goldfinches and tits, typical of the fauna of northern Italy. The artists valued them for their bright feathers and singing. These birds were not only easy to catch, but also to keep in captivity, in addition, they sing almost all year long. We cannot rule out the presence of fantastical images. Thus, from our point of view, the birds depicted on the margin of the tabletop (on the long side) have no exact prototypes in nature. As for insects, their images are contradictory and ambiguous. Most of them are difficult to define - at most to the family. Elements of symbolism are not alien to this kind of art. If we consider the entire composition of the tabletop the image of the garden of paradise, the role of the serpent wrapped around a branch of the apple tree becomes clear.

On this interactive reproduction of the tabletop there are several dots, clicking on which you can open a short description with the names of the species of flora and fauna, minerals used in the image, and with a small historical explanation of possible symbolism, which the educated contemporaries knew perfectly well and recognized in such works immediately. We tried to make the image as close to the original as possible, so that you could admire the stones put together to form an incredibly naturalistic image.

  1. Giusti A. Roman Inlay and Florentine Mosaics: the New Art of Pietre Dure // Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from Palaces of Europe. New York, 2008.
  2. Цит. по: Макаров В.К. Цветной камень в собрании Эрмитажа. Л., 1938. С. 5.
  3. Castelluccio S. Les meubles de pierres dures de Louis XIV et L’Atelier des Gobelins. Dijon: Editions Faton, 2007. P. 34.
  4. Стол с инкрустацией в технике pietre dure. Флоренция, первая половина XVII века, инв. номер 3415.
  5. Moore A., Flis N., Vanke F. The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World. Yale University Press, 2018. P. 468.
  6. Jervis S.S. One Rich Stone Table Inlaid // Furniture History Society Newsletter. No. 215 (August 2019). P. 20–22.
  7. Ibid. P. 21.