NEW YORK—This summer, a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents an overview of the wealth and scope of hardstone carving (pietre dure in Italian), in a dazzling display of magnificent works of art created for the princely courts of Europe between the sixteenth and the early nineteenth centuries. In parallel to the development of fine artistic sculpting of hardstones in China, and much influenced by its highly developed practice in Egypt, the cutting of pietre dure developed in ancient Rome, enjoyed a spectacular revival in the Renaissance, and throughout the Baroque period.
Colorful hardstones such as agate, jasper and lapis lazuli were fashioned into luxury objects, such as table tops, cabinets, and ornate display items, mesmerizing the affluent society of Europe. The production of pietre dure flourished in Rome, Milan and Florence, particularly from the sixteenth century and spread from Italy to Prague, Augsburg, Paris, Madrid and Saint Petersburg, where Northern European workshops established their own reputation working with locally quarried semi-precious stones.
The exhibition will display 150 masterpieces, many of which are embellished with gold and silver mounts, to document the radiating fascination of hardstones as artistic materials; these became highlights of the treasuries of many courts that would eventually evolve into the most renowned museums throughout Europe today.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, July 1 through September 21, 2008
Laurentius von Schulz is an Art Historian in 17th & 18th Century European Decorative Arts.
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