An Italian scagliola table top attributed to Pietro Antonio Paolini, Tuscan, circa 1735

An Italian scagliola table top attributed to Pietro Antonio Paolini, Tuscan, circa 1735. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

of rectangular form centred by a cartouche depicting a vignette of an Italian town within a border with a cartouche on either side with a battle scene en grisaille after Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630), flanked by seated female sphinxes with baskets of flowers on their heads on tasselled drapery amongst strapwork, scrolling foliage, flowers and butterflies, each end with a scrolled cartouche with fruit-filled cornucopia flanking a mask issuing from a sunburst motif above a bird, each angle with a roundel with amber fragments surmounted by a stylised scallopshell suspending leafy swags issuing from scrolled corbels, on a black slate ground, on a modern neo-classical ivory painted carved wooden base; the frieze carved with guilloche enclosing flowerheads, on stop-fluted tapering legs joined by a shaped stretcher carved with guilloche on toupie feet (not illustrated); top 144 cm. by 71cm; base 76cm. high, 148cm. wide, 74cm. deep; 4ft. 8¾in., 2ft. 4in; 2ft.6in., 4ft. 10¼in., 2ft. 5¼in. Estimate 100,000-150,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: José María Padierna de Villapadierna y Avecilla, 3rd Conde de Villapadierna (1909–1979);
Private collection of a Spanish Marquis

Comparative Literature: Jonathan Cook, Confections of Colour, Antique Dealers and Collectors Guide, June 1998, pp. 36-45.
G. Manni, I Maestri della scagliola in Emilia Romagna e Marche, Rome, 1997.
Anna Maria Massinelli, Scagliola L’Arte della Pietra di Luna, Modena, 1997, pp. 22-25.

This magnificent scagliola table top, although unsigned, can certainly be attributed to Pietro Antonio Paolini the Tuscan scagliolist. This is due to a number of features that it shares with other works either signed and dated by him or attributed to him, of which there are few recorded. This rare top is inset with amber fragments a feature only found on Paolini’s work and he also employed the technique of reproducing engravings and prints in black and white depicting mythological and other scenes together with paintings by various artists such as those in the cartouches.

It is worthwhile considering an almost identical top sold by Sotheby’s, Noseley Hall, Leicestershire, 28th and 29th September 1998, which was on a George II base (£210,000), reproduced here in fig. 1.The top had been commissioned by Sir Arthur Hesilrige, 7th Bt. (1708-1763) who went on a Grand Tour in 1723-24, visiting Florence, Rome, Parma and Venice in the company of Captain Pain. It stated in the catalogue that it belonged to an interesting group of early 18th century Tuscan scagliole depicting coastal scenes and harbour views which were much praised during the 18th century especially ones attributed to Don Enrico Hugford (1695-1771) of Vallombrosa, near Florence. There was no documentary evidence for attributing that top, although it had the monogrammed initials H.P corresponding perhaps to `Hugford Presbiter’ the Latin word for Priest. The fact that the central vignette on the offered table top and the Noseley Hall one are almost identical would suggest that they were never conceived as a pair. The offered table top is inset the amber fragments at the angles whereas the Noseley Hall table top has painted cartouches and the former top is decorated with more luxuriant foliage and flowers and is in different colour combinations.

The rarity of this stunning scagliola top attributed to Paolini is emphasised by the fact that there are known to date only four other signed scagliola tops by him:

-A table top dedicated to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, now in the Museo del Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, signed `Petrus Antonio Paolini fecit liburni Anno MDCCXXXII’ (1732), dedicated to `A sua Altezza Reale il Gran Duca di Toscana’, illustrated by J. Cook, op. cit., p. 36, fig. 1. It is decorated with a trompe l’oeil with a plan of a military strategist of a Barcelona fortress, a violin and a bow, a bird on a fruiting branch and a butterfly, an Old Master drawing and roses, (Inv. Mobili Artistici n. 1499). See the catalogue of the exhibition at Palazzo Pitti in 1974 `Gli ultimi Medici: il tardo barocco a Firenze, 1670-1743’.

-A table top inscribed `Petrus Antonius de Paulinus fecit Lourni 1737’ sold Phillips, London, lot 206, 23rd April 1996. reproduced here in fig. 2. Jonathan Cook  op. cit., p. 37, discovered this top which is decorated with flowers, fruit and masks with swags and reserves of marble fragments. The central oval is delineated by `marbled lines’ and features `David standing over the body of Goliath’ by Titian. This was taken from a series of ceiling paintings of Old Testament subjects in the sacristy of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice and painted by Titian between 1543 and 1544.

-A table top inscribed `Petrus Antonius Paulini fecit ‘ but undated, sold in these Rooms, 25thMay 2001, lot 37 (£130,000). It had formerly been in the collection of John Gilbert Winant (1889-1947), United States Ambassador to Great Britain 1941-1946. It had similar amber fragments contained within a roundel flanked by berried laurel to that on this table top and the treatment of some of the fruits, sprigs of berried laurel and nasturtium heads and identical blooms such as morning glory is so similar that both table tops must be by the same hand. The central subject matter on the Winant table top is a copy of the Teniers painting in the Prado Museum, Madrid.

-The scagliola tops signed `Petrus Antonius de Paulinus fecit', on a pair of George I gilt-gesso pier tables, known as the 'Treby tables', with amber fragments of smaller dimensions in the reserves, cartouches depicting harbour scenes and figures, and with a central engraved decoration, one of which depicting 'David and Goliath' and sold Christies London, 28th November 2002, lot 50.

Other comparable scagliola tops attributed to Paolini include:

-A related top attributed to Paolini, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (inv. W 6-1933) reproduced here in fig. 3, on a contemporary giltwood base. It was made in Leghorn in 1726 for Ditchley Park, seat of the 2nd Lord Litchfield. Although not signed, it has similar scrollwork, fruit, flowers and birds and cartouches inlaid with amber and aventurine and painted vignettes conceived in similar vein to those on this top. It is centred by the arms of the 2nd Earl of Litchfield, George Henry Lee, and two oval vignettes decorate the sides, one with a view of Roman ruins, the other a harbour scene depicting the ship with a red flag flying of the brother of Lord Litchfield, Admiral Fitzroy Lee, who wrote to his brother from Leghorn, `I have seen this morning your table which is entirely finished only the arms and supporters which I wrote to you of ten months ago and you have not seen them yet, which is a great pity for I am sure that it will be the finest sort in Europe’.  

-a top very similar to the first signed example, mentioned above, although unsigned, sold in these Rooms, 22nd May 1987, lot 59 (unattributed at that time), but almost certainly by Paolini. It is of serpentine outline and decorated with musical instruments, sheet music, a patch box decorated with harlequin, roses and butterflies.

- a table top attributed to Paolini, illustrated by Massinelli, op. cit., p. 22, fig. 9, of oval form centred by a bird atop a basket of fruit within a border of figures, masks and scrolling foliage, on black ground, now in a Private Collection.

-a table top on a commode, previously at Chesham Park, Henfield, Sussex, sold by Christie’s, on the premises at Chesham Park on 18th-19th April 1977, lot 182, the present whereabouts of which are unknown. In the opinion of Cook, op. cit., it may well be attributable to Paolini. The top with its serpentine outline with rounded corners is the same shape as the one sold in these Rooms in 1987-(see ante), although of slightly differing dimensions and it is possible that they were conceived as a pair.

-a table top attributed to Paolini on a base decorated with scagliola imitating pietre dure, illustrated by Massinelli, op. cit., p. 24, figs, 11-11c, now in the Canelli Collection, Milan.

-a top with a composition similar to the one owned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany (see ante), depicting a map of Lille, a violin, bow and other items, was in the George Malcolm Collection at Duntrune Castle, Argyll, Scotland (see A. Coleridge, `Don Petro’s Table-tops; Scagliola and grand Tour clients’, Apollo, 1996, pp. 184-187.)

Pietro Antonio Paolini:
Pietro Antonio Paolini was born in Lucca and active in the first half of the 18thcentury but there is scant information on his life. Nothing is known about his apprenticeship which was probably in one of the monasteries on the outskirts of Florence. His presence is also recorded in Livorno. Furthermore, the exceptional quality of the Uffizi top suggests that he had direct contact with the Grand Duke’s Court.

The representation in scagliola of geographical maps, sheets of music and trompe l’oeil effects were common in Tuscany in the early decades of the 18th century. Tuscan scagliolarists employed the use of botanical and musical motifs in the table tops which were commissioned by their wealthy patrons. Pietro Antonio Paolini was one of the foremost exponents of this art of trompe l’oeil scagliola, one of the famous commissions of his being the top executed for the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1732-(see ante).

Characteristic of Paolini’s work is his mixture of techniques of scagliola with pietre dure and mother-of-pearl and amber fragments as on the present top. His work represents the pinnacle of Tuscan scagliola in terms of technique and the process of the pictorial school. His inspiration is most likely to have come from the 17th and 18th century publications of coloured engravings after artists such as Jacob Van Huysum (1687-1740), Peter Casteels (1684-1749) and Johann Jakob Walther (1604-1671). On the offered top, the depiction of engravings are after Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630), one of which is reproduced here in fig. 4. He was an Italian painter, draughtsman and printmaker whose work was very popular in Northern Europe and he was born and trained in Florence as a pupil of Santi di Tito (1536-1603) and Joannes Stradanus (1523-1605) before working with Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) on the Palazzo Vecchio.  He is perhaps best known for his battle and mythological scenes.  

The scagliola technique:
This technique has been used since Roman times initially to imitate marble and later pietre dure. It is composed of pulverised selenite from the Appennini Mountains in Emilia and Tuscany, called lapis specularis or pietre di luna, which is then ground down and mixed with lime. This mixture is then placed on to a stone support and inlaid with a composition of coloured scagliola and graphite. The use of botanical and musical motifs by the Tuscan scagliolist appealed to the English Grand Tourist of the 18th century, who collected Italian artefacts with a passion on these Grand Tours.

The Counts of  Villapadierna:
They came from an old lineage of the Order of Santiago and Calatrava Knights, from the Spanish region of León and the House of Quirós. They had been lords since the reconquest of the Villapadiernas’castle, lieutenants of the fleet of the Admiral of Castilla and Governors of Tierra de Campos. The family had made careers in the army, the Church, politics, the world of sport, as well as being patrons of writers and artists.

The Villapadierna Palace, situated at no. 10 Goya Street was demolished in 1868, during the nineteenth-century expansion of Madrid. In Villanueva del Campo, there is the House of Padierna; in the centre of León, the House of Villapadierna; in Herrera del Duque the countryside mansion in Cíjara; in the village of Villapadierna its castle; and on the outskirts of Oviedo, in Olloniego, the castle of Quirós.

One of the  most distinguished members of this family was José María Padierna of Villapadierna and Avecilla (1909-1979) who would inherit, amongst other properties, the palaces of Villapadierna and Linares, two of the most emblematic architectural properties of 19thcentury Madrid. Moreover, he inherited a vast fortune and became a charismatic and outstanding personality of the 1920’s, dedicated to car and horse racing, so much so that he managed to spend three inheritances indulging in these past times. Fascinated in the 1920’s by the new sport of car racing, he raced for Ferrari and built up the motor-racing team of Villapadierna, with which he competed in the Spanish Grand Prix and on the Monaco racing circuit. He was also a keen horseman and created the Villapadierna stable which made history on Spanish turf. He was also fond of bullfighting and a close friend of Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez (1917-1947), better known as Manolete, a Spanish bullfighter as well as Antonio Bienvenida who was one of the most famous bullfighters during the 1960-70's. He introduced celebrities such as Gary Cooper, Orson Welles, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Porfirio Rubirosa to the bullfighting scene and he enjoyed almost mythical status in Spanish society of the mid 20th century.