Mosaic Cabinet and Clock 1700-1850 Giovanni Battista Foggini Italian with a German clockworks. pietre dure (hardstone mosaic), ebony, gilded bronze, brass, mother-of-pearl and ebonized wood The Victoria & Albert Museum |
The initial design is the work of Giovanni Battista Foggini of Florence. Foggini created this cabinet for Anna-Maria Luisa de' Medici. In the late Seventeenth Century, the top portion and clock were added. Crafted of the same materials and in a similar style, the top half is the work is almost as old as the original portion—having been added many years after its initial creation.
The present clock is a replacement for the mid-Eighteenth Century English clock which had been built into the cabinet. The second clock is German in origin and was added in the mid Nineteenth Century. At the same time, the central panel on the bottom portion of the cabinet was replaced with the one we see today.
Having been lost from the de’ Medici home, this beautiful group found its way into a private collection. Its owners have generously loaned it to The Victoria & Albert Museum.
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