A fine Italian scagliola table top signed L.B.F. for Laurentius Bonuccelli last quarter 17th century

of rectangular form with the cross of Malta, playing cards and sprays of roses, signed in the Jack of Spades and inscribed, 'Cartes Fines' in the Jack of Clubs, in a later ebonised and parcel-gilt frame

Comparative Literature:
Enrico Colle, I Mobili di Palazzo Pitti, Il periodo dei Medici, 1537-1737, Firenze,1997, pps.173-174.

This table top belongs to a group of  related table tops by this scagliola maker depicting playing cards (documented in Turin between 1685 and 1707):

-a table top signed by Bonuccelli, sold in these Rooms, as lot 72, 3rd December 1997, It has a similar composition with playing cards-reproduced here in fig.1.

-a table top sold as lot 236, in these Rooms, 11th December 1987, which contained the emblems of the Royal Family of Portugal cast on the handles of the Portuguese table upon which the top was mounted

-a table top also signed by this maker in a playing card, sold as lot 649, Christie's, New York, 16th & 18th November 1999.

-a table top signed on the Knave of Hearts, Laurentius Bonuccelli, was sold by the Trustees of the Callaly Castle Chattels Settlement, Christie's, House sale, 22nd-24th September 1986, lot 117 (£45,000)

It is also worthwhile considering other table tops made by this prolific scagliola maker:

- a set of four panels depicting flowers on stucco (initialled L.F.B., executed circa 1685-94) framed in the boiserie of the Gabinetto del Pregadio della Regina in the Royal Palace of Turin, illustrated by G. Ferraris, Pietro Piffetti e gli Ebanisti a Torino, 1670-1838, Turin, 1992, page 26.

- a scagliola table top signed Laurentius Bonuccelli fecit, depicting an elaborate arrangement of flowers, sold Sotheby's, London, 30th May 1997, lot 140. This top represents the masterpiece amongst the recorded works to date of this craftsman achieving the highest price ever recorded for a top by this maker (£177,500).

- two scagliola panels signed and dated 'Laurentius Bonuccelli 1681,' depicting subjects from Ovid's Metamorphoses within a border of ribboned flowers, inset in a cabinet by George Bullock in 1817 (one ill. in John Murray, George Bullock, Cabinet­maker, 1988, n. 23, page. 86).

- a scagliola table top with the map of the fortified town of Turin during the siege of 1706, signed Bonucelli F. ( ante 1713 ) and illustrated in the catalogue of the exhibition Il Tesoro della Citta; Opere d' arte e oggetti preziosi da Palazzo Madama, Turin, 1996, cat.359, pag. 172-3, caption by F. Corrado.

Scagliola tops were highly prized by English travellers who acquired them during their Grand Tour in the 18^th and 19^th centuries which explains the large numbers of them present in collections in this country. A scagliola table top depicting a game of piquet and with a torn knave of diamonds is in the collection of the Earl of Spencer, Althorp, Northamptonshire (included in the inventory of furniture in 1746, illustrated in Country Life 1959, May 7, page 1022).

Another pair with cards, envelopes and musical notes is in the collection of the Earl of Pembroke at Wilton (one of the two is illustrated in the Guide book of the house, page 15). Another is at Saltram (T/Sal/F/28). A fifth one, depicting cards and inset in a Georgian centre table, was sold in these Rooms on 3rd July 1953, lot 285.

Laurentius Bonuccelli:
There is scant information concerning the life and origins of this gifted craftsman, who was apparently celebrated in his own time, as his work is recorded in the Royal Palace of Turin alongside that of the most celebrated Italian cabinet-maker Piffetti who framed the above mentioned set of four panels (the bills of Piffetti dated 1732, see G. Ferraris, op. cit. ).

Bills exist for Bonuccelli's work between 1685 and 1694 in the Royal Palace of Turin and further documents confirm his activity until at least 1707 according to F. Corrado, op. cit.

The presence of scagliola makers working in Genoa, but originating from other regions is documented at the end of the 17th century in an armorial scagliola top signed and dated Genoa 1685, which is now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (ill. and discussed in Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Mobile Ligure, Genova, 1996, pg. 113, 121, 122, fig. 137). Nevertheless, as has already been stressed in that footnote, the name of Bonuccelli could indicate a Tuscan origin. Tuscany was, together with Emilia, the main centre for the production of scagliola in Italy.

It is interesting to compare the present table top with other scagliola tops which are signed in the main by Tuscan makers, which depict trompe I' oeils of cards, Italian sheet music and various objects. E. Colle, op. cit., refers to the scripts of a voyageur Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti who, in his Relazioni di alcuni viaggi fatti in diverse parti della Toscana, Firenze, 1796, mentions this technique which imitated mosaics and pietre dure commessi. In particular, Tozzetti states: 'nei tempi passati alcuni lavoranti di Scagliuole, che oltre all' imitare i Mosaici di Pietre dure, si ( erano) anche inoltrati ad esprimere sulle loro tavole Carte Geografiche, Carte da giuoco, Carte di Musica e mille altre bizzarie, che a prima vista (ingannavano ) gli spettatori.   All these comparisons would prove the existence of preparatory cartoons by an anonymous artist (probably Tuscan) from which the above mentioned scagliolisti derived their compositions and from whom, there seems to be little doubt, Bonuccelli copied the present top.