19th Century, Moretto Piano Holder

19th century

Moretto piano holder

Polychrome and gilded wood, cm alt. 75

The fascination for Middle Eastern culture, evident in the sculptural production representing Moretti and Odalisque, acquires in this specimen a charge of maximum exoticism. The brunette, dressed in splendid brocade and richly decorated clothes, moves a foot in the hint of a step, counterbalancing himself, at the same time, with his right side; the voluminous knot fixed on the basin, from which rain ornate draperies, helps to invigorate the central part of the sculpture, visually strengthening it to better support optically the shelf placed on top. The figure, wearing typical oriental slippers, is in balance on a gondola. The subtle polychromy that illuminates the black follows trembling and dazzling the full and recesses of the reliefs, stirring up appearances, as well as the visual detachment also offered by the gold compared to the dark wooden background. The spread of brassicas reggicero, reggipiano, half-round as part of furniture and similar is placed in the traditional path of self-celebration of the European powers, praising their own military victories through a figurative instrumentalization of the image of the populations won. The present sculpture exacerbates the oriental charm of the "other" culture by choosing to represent the black man not only with local clothes but, through a cultural mixture, offering the viewer the charm of the sweetened eastern world.