Giovanni Battista Pozzi 1670-1752 Attributed To, Box Of 52 Profiles Of Emperors In Ivory.

Giovanni Battista POZZI 1670-1752 attributed to, exceptional cabinet box in mahogany veneer from the George III period with 5 drawers presenting 52 oval-view profiles (dim 4.7x3.7cm) of Roman emperors in ivory. From the 18th century, the fashion of the Grand Tour spread, particularly in Great Britain, young British nobles crisscrossed Europe from country to country visiting the great capitals, art collections and ancient ruins, they were quickly nicknamed "tourists" Giovanni Battista POZZO specialized in the production of intaglios and reliefs with a classical theme for the great tourists who visited Rome and Naples, he signed his works Gio.POZZO and is better known under the name of POZZI He was helped in his business by his 2 sons Roque Pozzo known as an engraver and produced compositions from which his father and his brother Andrea worked. Andrea Pozzo established his own workshop at the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid during the reign of King Carlos III. In 1743, Horace Walpole commissioned William Kent to produce a cabinet to house a collection of miniature ivories of classical theme that he had purchased from Pozzo during his Grand Tour! He was very proud of his cabinet (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum) which, like the German Wunderkammers, demonstrated his wealth, modernity and good taste. Another set of ivory intaglios by Pozzo is at Castle Howard from Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle. Our collection is similar; the extremely fine facial features detailing the individual characteristics of each of the emperors, the unusual undercut of the neck, which undulates back and forth, and the incised text with the name of each character in Latin are typical of Pozzo's work.