Description: Rare Grand Tour Paperweight. Dating to the early to mid 19th century. Ostensibly carved from specimen marble and a block of slate polished glossy black. Bevelled, weighted with lead with the base plate lined with suede. It weighs a hefty 900g- a perfect souvenir of enlightened travels considered suitable to grace a gentleman's library desk. On closer inspection the paperweight is particularly remarkable, however, as an example of faux marble painting for which Italy had become justly celebrated by the early 19th century. Were it not for slight wear to the black under-layer at the corners I would have been prepared to swear that this was veneered with figured stone. Even the texture is perfect. Clearly painted by a master exponent of the art. Marbleizing was a specialist painting technique with examples dating back to Roman Pompeii. By the 19th century students could spend up to ten years learning their craft and were expected to study geological specimens and produce highly naturalistic imitations that were difficult to distinguish from the real thing -using glazes, varnishes and scumbles applied with specialist tools (even feathers!) in a variety of pigment mediums. Clearly well loved the paperweight has the good honest small edge chips that evidencemuch use and wear over the centuries. These could be disguised with tinted filler, though this would lose some of the pieces history, in my opinion. It speaks to the quality of the painting that very little has worn away - only at the sharp corner edges. Approximate Dimensions: Length 13cm (5") x Width 9cm (3½") x Height 4cm ( 1½") Another similar paperweight, though with different marble patterning, is listed separately.
Price: 85 GBP
Location: Swaffham
End Time: 2024-12-07T21:34:05.000Z
Shipping Cost: 41.07 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Returns Accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Antique: Yes
Type: Paperweight
Original/Repro: Original
Material: Slate / Stone
Country/Region: Italy
Age: 1800-1849
Maker: Unbranded
