Bouquet With Birds - Painting In Hard Stone Marquetry

Directly inspired by a Florentine Renaissance model, this vase filled with a majestic bouquet of flowers is made with various precious stones and marbles, the birds and butterflies surrounding it bringing the scene to life. Cut and polished paving stones of pale Sienna yellow, lapis lazuli, white Rajasthan marble and green marble make up the painting.

The painting is set in a carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XIII period.
Dimensions: 59 x 43 cm the plaque - 70 x 55 cm with the frame

Known for more than two thousand years already among the Romans then in Persia, the Middle East and as far as India, hard stone marquetry has adorned the palaces of the greatest art lovers and statesmen from all over the world. But it was in Florence that the technique reached its peak in the 16th century, thanks to the impetus of Ferdinando I de' Medici who founded the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (the hard stone marquetry workshop) of the Medici family.