Attributed to Francesco Antonio Pallme-König

This charming panel displays magnificently pietre dure in relief and an exciting discovery of Francesco Pallme-König's work, to whom this panel may be attributed to. This attribution is based on a closely related example, depicting an identical scene as the present, that bears the following inscription to the reverse "Francesco Antonio / Palme König / Napoli 1802" (with Kugel, Paris).

The inscription to the back of this panel refers to Francesco Antonio Pallme-König. Unfortunately, not much is known about his life nor career, but he was involved with hardstones as evidenced by these two similar panels. In fact, he was an engraver at the Royal Laboratory of Pietre Dure of S. Carlo alle Mortelle, established in Naples in 1738 at the Church of San Carlo alle Mortelle by the will Charles III of Spain (1716-1788). Then King of Naples as Charles VII, he invited Domenico del Rosso and Giovan Francesco Pieri, two cutters who worked at the Opificio delle pietra dure in Florence, to Naples to instruct the workers over there, who themselves trained the subsequent generations of talented craftsmen such as Francesco Antonio.

The Pallme-König (or Palme Koening)

The Pallme-Königs are an important family with Bohemian origins established as manufacturers and traders primarily in glassworks since the 18th century. Members of the Pallme-König family were dispersed throughout Europe and branches are found in Bohemia (Steinschönau), Italy (Trieste, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Palermo), Egypt (Cairo) and America.