BY CLEMENTE SUSINI, FLORENCE, CIRCA 1800

Details

AN ITALIAN POLYCHROME SCAGLIOLA-INLAID TABLE TOP
BY CLEMENTE SUSINI, FLORENCE, CIRCA 1800
The rectangular black slate top inlaid with a still life of vessels, shells, coral, butterflies and doves within a Greek-key border, signed 'C.S.F.'; restorations
57 ¾ in. (156 cm.) wide; 28 ¾ in. (73 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anonymous Sale; Sotheby's, London, 31 October 2007, lot 248, where probably acquired.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol. III, page 302, fig. 80.
H. Groth, Neoclassicism in the North, London, 1990, page 58, fig. 30.

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer

ahume-sayer@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2696

Lot Essay

This fine scagliola-inlaid table top with a polychrome trompe l'oeil vignette depicting a butterfly hovering amongst antique vases, shells and coral, symbolic of wealth and fruitful excavations in the Italian peninsula, is closely related to a top illustrated in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol. III, page 302, fig. 80 (one of a pair of Regency console tables from the Dutton Collection). A second scagliola top, with an almost identical arrangement of objects, but on a statuary marble ground signed 'Clemente Susini, F 1801, Firenze', is in the collection of Ovedskloster Manor, one of the most prominent privately-built eighteenth-century country houses in Sweden (illustrated. H. Groth, Neoclassicism in the North, London, 1990, page 58, fig. 30).

A closely related pair of tops signed 'Clemente Sufini Firenza Fece Micali-Livorno, 1797' sold Castillo de Bendinat, Christie's Mallorca, May 24, 1999, lot 331. (£185,579).

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