A Pair of Italian Console Tables Expert Adviser's Statement
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Case 4, 2011-12 : A pair of Italian console tables Expert Adviser’s Statement Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that the illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council England website EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Brief Description of the Item A pair of console tables, the tops of marquetry, the bases of carved boxwood. Each 90cm high, 171.5cm wide, and 87cm deep. The tops by Lucio de Lucci (fl. 1680-1700) and the bases attributed to Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732). Made in Venice in around 1688. The tables have undergone restoration in the past but the condition is good. The condition of the marquetry is remarkably good and the bases are structurally sound with only minor losses. 2. Context The tables appear to have been made to celebrate the Venetian conquest of the Morea, or Greek Peloponnese, between 1685 and 1688. They form part of a group of six tables by Lucio and Antonio de Lucci depicting events in the re- conquest of Eastern European territory from the Turkish Empire. The exact relationship between these works and the original circumstances of their commission are unknown at present. It is possible, however, that they were made for the commander of the Venetian forces during the Morean War, Doge Francesco Morosini (1619-94). The present pair were probably sold to the 5th Duke of Buccleuch during the 1830s and left the Buccleuch collection in 1971. 3. Waverley Criteria The tables fall slightly short of criterion 1 since the although the Buccleuch collection was and remains exceptional, the tables are not positively known to have formed a major component of a recorded decorative scheme. Nor are they intimately associated with a significant British person. The provenance is nevertheless not a matter of indifference. The tables do qualify under criterion 2, as exceptionally grand examples of the very finest workmanship in two media: marquetry and wood-carving. The tables remain a pair and the condition is good. The tables also qualify strongly under criterion 3. The study of Italian baroque furniture is not especially well advanced in the UK and items of this interest are not abundantly represented within British collections. The De Luccis have not been adequately researched but it is clear that their workshops were important. The attribution to Brustolon is unproven but plausible. Brustolon was pre-eminent among Venetian carvers of the later 17th century and in Italy there has recently been a renewal of interest in his work. The conjunction of exceptional marquetry and exceptional carving in an ensemble that was commissioned to mark great military and political events renders the tables of very great interest to the art historical study of furniture. DETAILED CASE 1. Detailed description of the items The ebony ground of each top is divided into nine primary compartments by broad lines of strapwork in brazilwood (pernambuco), outlined in fine ivory stringing. The central pictorial panels have secondary scenes below and to the left and right, while an armorial cartouche fills the area above. Large areas of scrolling acanthus marquetry fill the space between the pictorial areas and the composition is finished in the corners with further small figure scenes. The marquetry, of European and exotic hardwoods, is supplemented with stained horn, ivory and pewter details. The acanthus areas are embellished with weapons, birds, animals, putti and dwarfs (the last derived from Jacques Callot’s Varie figure Gobbi, 1616). The central subjects are, on the first table, an architectural perspective in the manner of Hans Vredeman de Vries and, on the second table, a galley containing men firing guns, sailing away from a port city. The lower scenes on each table depict a mounted stag hunt while the remaining four scenes depict mounted warfare, one, on the second table, including a fortress defended by canon. Some of the figures are turbaned and fight with scimitars while one carries a flag bearing three crescents. The figures in the top right corner of the first table and the top left of the second carry scrolls inscribed ‘LVCIO D’LVCCI FECE’. The figures in the other two top corners smoke long pipes. The boxwood bases comprise four massive scrolling legs joined with scrolled x-form stretchers. The legs and stretchers are profusely carved with acanthus foliage, fruit and flowers while the deep friezes bear trophies of helmets, arms and trumpets. The bases have undergone restoration on a number of occasions with some sections of carving replaced and the structure re- enforced with hidden metal straps. This does not, however, detract from the visual impression or design integrity. The tops have also been restored more than once and on both tables the arms of the Duke of Buccleuch, on ivory, have been inserted in place of the arms of the original owner. Provenance Probably acquired by Walter Francis Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and 7th Duke of Queensberry, probably from the London dealer Edward Holmes Baldock, 1830-40. Sold by the 8th Duke of Buccleuch, Christie’s, London, 11 March 1971, lot 53. Sold Christie’s, London, 7 December 2006, lot 70, £635,200 including premium. Sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2011, lot 8, £713,250 including premium. Literature Enrico Colle, Il Mobile Barocco in Italia, Milan, 2000, ill. pp.302 and 322. A. González-Palacios, Il gusto dei principi, Arte di corte del XVIIe del XVIII secolo, Milan, 1993, pp.338-9, figs. 595 (erroneously switched with fig. 597) and 596; and figs. 597 and 598 for two related tables. Anna Maria Spiazzi, Andrea Brustolon 1662-1732, ‘Il Michelangelo del Legno’, Belluno, 2009; catalogue of an exhibition at the Palazzo Crepadona, Belluno, March-July 2009. Daniela di Castro, ‘Una tarsia veneziana del Seicento per un bureau tedesco del Settecento’, DecArt, Riviste di arti decorative 1 (2004), p.20-25. S. Tumidei, ‘Intagli a Bologna, intagli per Bologna’, Antologia delle Belle Arti, II, pp.59-62, 2000. The related tables A pair, split in the 18th century, both inscribed ‘ANT. DE LUCCI FECE IN VENETIA 1686’ on an ivory scroll held by a figure in Turkish dress. One, now in a private collection in Italy, is identical in format to the pair under discussion with the central subject being an architectural perspective in the manner of de Vries (González-Palacios, op cit). The other was cut up in Germany in 1764 to decorate a writing desk but was apparently of a similar composition (di Castro, op cit). A pair, sold Christie’s, London, 31 March 1977, lot 65 (property of the Evelyn Family Trust). One depicting a fortified city inscribed ‘VIENA’ and presumed to depict the Battle of Vienna in 1683; the other depicting the siege of a port city inscribed ‘NAPOLI DI ROMANIA’, identifiable as Nauplia (modern Nafplio), a Morean city taken by Francesco Morosini in 1686. Both tops now rest on 19th century stands. This pair were split following the sale in 1977: the Vienna table sold Christie’s, London, 7 July 2011 (£169,250 including premium); the Nauplia table, in a private collection, recorded in González-Palacios, op. cit. Conservation of the Vienna table is recorded as having taken place in Austria in 1993. The format of this pair differs from the other cited tables, there being in each case a single large pictorial scene flanked by acanthus. Neither bear the signature of the De Luccis but they are very reasonably attributed to them by all commentators. These six items are clearly related products of the same Venetian workshop, made in 1686 or shortly thereafter. Only the pair under discussion appear to retain original bases. The relationship between Antonio and Luccio de Lucci is not known. Of these six tables, three are clearly related to the conquest of territory from the Ottoman Empire during the 1680s. The Ottoman defeat at Vienna in 1683 opened up a brief period of military advance for Venice. Venice’s last remaining Greek possession, Crete, was the focus of protracted warfare between 1644 and 1669, in which year Francesco Morosini, Captain General of the Venetian forces on Crete, was forced to surrender the city of Heraklion. After the spectacular defeat of the Turks at Vienna, however, Morosini was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Venetian navy and in 1684 began a series of successful campaigns that culminated in the capture of Nauplia (Nafplio) in September 1686. By August 1687, Venetian conquest of the Peloponnese was complete and Morosini turned northwards to besiege Athens, infamously destroying large parts of the Parthenon in the process. Athens was briefly taken, and in 1688 Morosini was elected Doge. He failed, however, in an attempt to take Chalkis (Negroponte), and the Venetian advance halted. In 1693, at the age of 74, Morosini renewed his ambition to capture more Turkish territory but died soon after arriving at Nauplia. Ultimately the entire expansion proved unsustainable and the Ottomans swiftly reconquered the Peloponnese in 1715. The pairing of Vienna with Nauplia is illuminating, suggesting that the capture of the largest city in the Morea was, for Venice, symbolically equivalent to the Hapsburg defence of Eastern Europe. A Papal Sword was bestowed upon Morosini by Alexander VIII in 1689 in recognition of his defence of Christendom. (Pope Alexander, r.1689-91, was born Pietro Ottoboni in Venice, and as pontif financed further Venetian reconquest in Albania.) Whether the tables by Antonio De Lucci were part of this triumphal programme or are simply contemporary in design is unclear. The tables which are the subject of this statement, however, do clearly relate to warfare between Venice and the Turks. One appears to show a Venetian galley setting out from Venice or an intermediate station, perhaps the newly- conquered Nauplia.