Lot n° 273
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Francesco SIBILIO, attribué à
Important neo-classical pedestal table, circa 1820
The polychrome circular top is centered with a Roman mosaic representing a deer chased by a dog, surrounded by a frieze of meanders and within a disk composed of antique glass tesserae around which radiates 84 samples of marble and hard stones embedded in white Carrara marble. It rests on a carved mahogany base with a gadrooned belt and a corolla-shaped shaft supported by an octagonal moulded base.
1st third of the 19th century.
Total height : 77 cm. Thickness of the tray : 3 cm. Diameter of the top : 94,5 cm.
(Very small damages)
This spectacular pedestal table is characterized by its spectacular top, work of Francisco Sibilio, talented and creative Italian craftsman of the beginning of the
19th century. This table top stands out for its materials, in which Sibilio excelled, but also for its dimensions, which make it one of the largest known to this day.
Francesco SIBILIO Francesco Sibilio was both a marble craftsman and an antique dealer in marble and antique glass paste. It is assumed that he was trained at the renowned Studio del mosaico dell Reverenda Fabbricca di San Pietro, created around 1576 under papal protection. The activity of micromosaic was introduced in the workshop in 1795 after its rediscovery some 25 years earlier.
The success of the objects in micro-mosaic was immediate. Jewellery, boxes of all kinds and small paintings were all the rage. The successes represented are frequently from Antiquity and represent capricci, Roman ruins, the Colosseum, the temple of Vesta, the Pantheon, ...
At the beginning of the 19th century, Sibilio contributed to the development of this taste for collecting marble samples and inlays of hard or semi-precious stones on objects or furniture.
The first half of the 19th century was the golden age of the study and collection of marble samples. Numerous collections were formed during this period and Sibilio was regularly cited as a supplier (for example in the sale catalogue of the Francesco
Belli collection to Count Stefano Karoly in 1842).
An innovative technique
Francesco Sibilio was not only interested in marbles but also in antiquities in the broadest sense. He was the first to combine micro-mosaics, marbles, semi-precious stones and antique glass tesserae, as is the case for our spectacular tray. He collected pieces of antique glass and repolished them in order to exploit the richness of their colours.
His talent allowed him to give the glass an aspect or a depth similar to that of agate. These fragments can be dated for the most part from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD.
A close examination reveals that the glass pieces are held together with metal which has the particularity of reflecting light and giving an iridescent effect to the glass. Sibilio knew, better than any other, how to bring this technique to its apogee.
In addition, the white marble tray is hollowed out to receive the different materials, which accentuates its depth.
A limited corpus
Among the rare trays comparable to ours in terms of their technique and their large size, made by Sibilio, we can cite only a few:
- Tray signed and dated 1824, diameter 82 cm.
Christie's sale Paris 28 Nov. 2017, lot 722. Coll. Part.
- Tray signed and dated 1823, diameter 64 cm. Christie's London sale, 15 Dec. 1994, lot 244 and Christie's London sale, 30 Sept. 1999, lot 128. Illustrated in Alvar-Gonzalez-Palacios "Lavori di Sibilio", "L'armadio delle meraviglie", Milan 1991, ill. 51. Coll. Part.
- Tray around 1825, diameter 85 cm. Collection Edric van Vredenburgh. Sotheby's London sale 6 June 2006, lot 96. Coll. Part.
- Tray circa 1825, diameter 83 cm. Christie's London 1992, lot 143. Coll. Part.
Comparative bibliography:
- Gonzáles-Palacios A. L'Armadio delle meraviglie. Personaggi, vicende, oggetti: un invito all'arte, una lezione di stile, Milan, 1997.
- Ciranna S. "Francesco Sibilio un pietrajo dell'Ottocento. La bottega, la casa, l'attivita e l'inventario del 1859", in Antologia di belle arti. Studi romani I,
N. S. ? 67-70,2004, pp. 146-167.
- González-Palacios, A., "Marmi, Pietre e Vetri: Lavori di Sibilio", in Casa Vogue Antiques, March 1991, nr. 12, pp. 84-89.
- González-Palacios, A. (coord.), Fasto Romano: dipinti, sculture, arredi dai Palazzi di Roma, 1991, cat. nrs. 170-171, p.209, ill. LXXX.
- Newby, Martine S., "Francesco Sibilio and the reuse of Ancient Roman Glass in the Nineteenth Century", in Annali 16 Congresso AIHV, London2003, p.401.
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