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Table
Piffetti, Pietro, born 1700 - died 1777 - Enlarge image
Table
- Place of origin:
Turin (city), Italy (made)
- Date:
1732-1734 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Piffetti, Pietro, born 1700 - died 1777 (designer and maker)
Ladatte, Francesco, born 1706 - died 1787 (mounts, maker) - Materials and Techniques:
Veneered in rosewood and ebony, with marquetry in several woods and ivory; mounts of gilt bronze
- Museum number:
W.5-1985
- Gallery location:
In Store
This richly decorated table was made in the workshop of Pietro Piffetti, who became royal cabinet-maker in Turin from 1731. Panels of marquetry with such lavish bouquets of flowers became popular in France and Holland at the end of the 17th century and this table is clearly following that fashion nearly half a century later. When Piffetti was in Rome in 1730 and 1731 he must have come across the work of the Paris-trained cabinet-maker Pierre Daneau, who settled in Rome in the 1720s, and he may have been influenced by the style of Daneau's work. Piffetti specialised in marquetry of rich woods and luxury materials such as ivory and mother-of-pearl. In the 19th century such elaborate furniture was much admired by collectors and there was a lively market in such pieces. It is now thought that the bronze mounts on the legs and along the border of the table-top may have been added or replaced at that date, and that the image of the book may have been added to the marquetry.
