An Italian pietre dure oval panel by Enrico Bosi, Florence, circa 1860

This exquisite panel beaming with colours and details is one of the few recorded examples that have survived with the maker’s label of Enrico Bosi, who was established in the third quarter of the 19th century on Piazza S. Trinita No. 1 in Florence. Bosi here carefully chose elements that match visually and placed them strategically to best showcase the nuances of the stones. For example, jasper is used to define the goldfinch in the foreground, verde d’Arno for the vine leaves. The dewy luminosity of the purple and orange grapes are rendered with a charming tactile sphericity.

This type of illusionistic still life was introduced into the Florentine repertory in the late 18th century and its popularity continued throughout the 19th century reflecting an interest into archaeology, flora and fauna. The surrealistic and meticulous treatment of a ledge on which the objects are displayed, was indeed first used at the Medici’s Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence by Antonio Cioci, later on by his son Leopoldo, and by Carlo Carlieri in the 1780s. Several pietre dure tables tops designed by Cioci with still lifes including antique objects and flowers, are in Galleria Palatina, at Palazzo Pitti, Florence. 

Although production at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure experienced a further renaissance during the 19th century, the House of Savoy, now the ruling family of the unified country, preferred to commission works from private Florentine workshops, such as that of Enrico Bosi. A still life plaque with the same maker’s labels for Bosi was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 6th  November 2014, lot 99 (£32,500). Another attributed to Bosi was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 10th November 2015, lot 186 (£12,500). In comparison to these two examples, the present is bursting with goldfinches, flowers, leaves and fruits, thus giving a new perspective on Bosi’s oeuvre. 

Still lives with flowers issuing from a vase and birds perched on branches are set in cabinet-on-stands attributed to Bosi now at Palazzo Pitti and formerly in the apartments of King Victor Emmanuel II in 1879 (ill. Annamaria Giusti, L’Opificio delle Pietre Dure nell’Italia unita, 2011, pp.140-143).

Enrico Bosi had his workshop on via Tornabuoni from 1858 and later in Piazza San Trinitá in Florence. For several decades he supplied an international clientele who visited Florence and also exhibited internationally. Together with makers such as Francesco Betti, Bianchini and the Buoninsegni brothers, he filled the void left by the decline of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, supporting the high demand by aristocratic and bourgeois patrons for these luxury objects executed with greater realism. He was a personal acquaintance of Victor Emmanuele II, who made him an equerry and acquired pieces from him, such as the cabinet-on-stand at the 1861 Universal Exhibition, now in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Bosi also supplied a frame for a portrait of Vittorio Emanuele II circa 1870 now in the Museo del Risorgimento, Milan (see A. M. Giusti, Pietre Dure, London, 1992, p.126, fig. 69).