Antique Florentine Grand Tour Pietra Dura Blossoming Rose Flower Paperweight

This antique inkwell is unsigned, but presumed to have originated from Austria and date to approximately 1920 and done in the period Black Forest style. The inkwell is composed of a ...

Dating from the early 18th century, this grouping of brass pen cases have their origins in Persia, Egypt and Japan respectively. Each case is intricately engraved with a patterned sc...

Dating from the early 19th century or Qajar period, this antique hand painted pen box is done in a series of bordered vignettes of Persian men and animals ...

This antique desk set has no maker's signature, but is presumed to have originated from England and date to approximately 1890 and done in the period ...

This is a superb decorative antique Italian Grand Tour marble Pietra Dura mounted desk paperweight, circa 1880 in date. This splendid rectangular paperweight is exquisitely inlaid with a sumptuous arrangement of semi-precious stones including malachite, agate, onyx and amethyst. It is beautifully inlaid on a slate base. Not only is this desk paperweight very functional, but it is also an exquisite mineralogical wonder that can be admired by all discerning collectors. Condition: In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation, Dimensions in cm: Height 2 x Width 17 x Depth 10 Dimensions in inches: Height 1 inch x width 7 inches x depth 4 inches. Pietra dura is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished coloured stones to create images. It is considered a decorative art. Pietre dure is an Italian plural meaning "hard rocks" or hardstones; the singular pietra dura is also encountered in Italian. In Italian, but not in English, the term embraces all gem engraving and hardstone carving, which is the artistic carving of three-dimensional objects in semi-precious stone, normally from a single piece, for example in Chinese jade. The traditional convention in English has been to use the singular pietra dura just to denote multi-colored inlay work. However, in recent years there has been a trend to use pietre dure as a term for the same thing, but not for all of the techniques it covers, in Italian. But the title of a 2008 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe used the full Italian sense of the term, probably because they thought that it had greater brand recognition. The material on the website speaks of objects such as a vase in lapis lazuli as being examples of "hardstone carving (pietre dure)" The Victoria & Albert Museum in London uses both versions on its website, but uses pietra dura. "A method of inlaying coloured marbles or semi-precious stones into a stone base, often in geometric or flower patterns...." Giovanni Montelatici...

Italian oval white marble paperweight with beautiful colored burnt orange and greenish gray marble inlay with mother of pearl highlights in the form of a butterfly. Lovely piece to h...

A fine signed Italian pietra dura paperweight. By Giuseppe Fiaschi. With handcut marble polychrome marble specimens inlaid on a stepped black...

The white ground inlaid with specimen marbles and porphyry with ridges on 2 sides