Venice, 18th Century, Decorated Tray

Venice, 18th century

Decorated tray

Carved, lacquered, and decorated wood, 65 x 36.5 cm

The object features a sturdy structure with a wavy, undulating edge, typical of 18th-century Venetian production, reflecting the Rococo taste for dynamic and asymmetrical forms. The painted decoration covers the entire surface of the tray, forming a central composition of great visual impact within a frame featuring alternating geometric and floral motifs in shades of green, ochre yellow, and carmine red. In the center, against a landscape background rendered with a skillful range of golden browns and dark greens, figurative scenes of great narrative vitality unfold. The edges of the tray feature smaller scenes, also of a figurative and landscape nature, set within oval or lobed medallions, completing a decorative program of great richness and complexity. The state of preservation reveals the work’s authenticity and age: the lacquer shows widespread flaking and wear, and the paint film exhibits craquelure and abrasions, yet the piece as a whole retains its extraordinary chromatic and narrative quality intact. Objects of this kind occupy a prominent place in the history of 18th-century Venetian decorative arts. Venice was then one of Europe’s leading centers for the production of lacquered furniture and objects, partly due to the influence of Oriental lacquer that reached the lagoon through trade with the East, and partly due to the flourishing of artisan workshops specializing in the so-called “arte povera”—a technique involving the application of cut-out prints directly onto the wooden surface, subsequently covered with layers of transparent lacquer. This technique, more economical than direct painting, allowed for the creation of refined decorative effects, replicating on furniture and everyday objects the figurative repertoire of great painting and engraving. On the back of the tray is a paper label from the Milanese gallery Alberto e Michele Subert, a valuable testament to its provenance from the Lombard antique market and a useful clue for reconstructing the work’s collecting history.