Description: Rare important early 18th Century Venetian box with fielded panels decorated with lacca povera  depicting Chinoiserie fantasies, framed with gilt-wood; the inside of the box has a later (early 19th century English) tray, covered in green silk fitted for sewing.

Origin:   Italy Venice.

Circa: 1730

Materials: Wood, decorated with lacca povera and gilt gesso.

Size: 31.8cm wide by 21.5cm by 12.5cm:   12.5 inches wide by   8.5 inches by  4.9 inches.

Condition: Good overall, some losses, but un-restored and retaining its integrity. The original varnish has a fine crazing consistent with age. Please see images for a full record.

Detail: A young Oriental boy in dress that is more European than Chinese with the symbols of a scholar prince. 

Lacca povera (also termed arte povera and lacca contrafatta) was developed as a means of imitating the appearance of costly,  scarce, and fashionable high value lacquer being imported into Europe from the far East. It is now rarer and possibly more valued in the west  than the material it imitated. 

It is not surprising that it was in Venice that one of the first lacquer substitutes was developed. Venice was an important port through which the luxury products of the Silk Route reached Europe.

In Lacca povera motifs and scenes were pasted on the primed wood using flower paste. They were then decorated with color and finally varnished. 

Inside  the box has a later high quality (early 19th century English) tray, covered in green silk fitted for sewing.

In the earliest work the motifs are chinoiserie as here but these were quickly replaced by European themes. 

It is believed that the varnish used by the Venetians was made with sandarac. Both spirit and oil versions existed. 

There is still a lack of research on the detailed methods of early craftsmen and artists and much of the evidential record is often destroyed by restoration.

Sandarac oil varnish was the so-called “vernis liquida” of the Italian Renaissance-era tempera and oil painting and was complicated to make.   

Gum Sandarac is  brittle resin obtained from the African sandarac tree, Tetraclinis articulata, in the form of yellowish, faintly aromatic, opaque tears and broken cylindrical pieces. It is soluble in alcohol. It is used in the manufacture of spirit varnishes, and, when dissolved in oil, to make cooked varnishes. It is also used in powdered form to clean vellum and to prepare it for writing purposes. Its most outstanding property is its hardness. It is sometimes  called "gum juniper."  

 

The printer Remondini from Bassano del Grappa was the principal supplier of prints to the workshops. These engravings were taken form the most popular catalogues, so certain decorations were inspired by the work of contemporary artists such as Ricci, Zaiss, Zucarelli, Anigoni, Waquer and Dall'Acqua.

See:

•  Venetian Lacquer (date : 30 August 2001), from Agathe Parenty
• MALLETT ANTIQUES - 18th century Venetian lacquer furniture
• Sandarac oil varnish
• Sandarac Gum

 

A

The inside of the box has a later (early 19th century English) tray, covered in green silk fitted for sewing.

 The box has gilded  gilded gesso framing.