Signed Italian Silver Mounted Pietra Dura Paperweight with Flower by G. Fiaschi

A fine upright botanical glass lampwork paperweight. By Caithness Glass / WhiteFriars. Entitled: "Blue Flower." Designed by Allan Scott. Depicting ...

A very fine studio glass paperweight by Chris Buzzini. With a lampwork orchid (including the roots). With a signature cane to the reverse of the ro...

A fine silver bar shaped paperweight. By Tiffany & Co. In sterling silver. With rounded edges & corners, a weighted interior, and a black felt base. Fully hallmarked to the side....

A fine Baccarat paperweight. By Baccarat. With a deep purple and yellow lamp work pansy with a branching stem, leaves, and small bud on a clear base. In a high and round profile. ...

This antique paperweight is unsigned, but presumed to have been acquired during a Grand Tour through Italy, and dating to approximately 1880 and do...

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 inlai...

Fabulous Pietra Dura box created in a cool geometric composition possibly by Richard Blow. Masterfully done and while unmarked it is signed Made in Ita...

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...