Ink well with pietra dura

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Item number: 484304

Description: Height 6.5 cm.
Width 12 cm.

Small ink well in crystal and on gilded frame from the 1890s.
The lid of the inkwell has an inlaid motif of flowers that reappear on the black stone plate it stands on.

It is in very fine condition with a fine patination on the gilded frame.

Pietra dura is the art of laying stone in stone, intarsia with stone.
The technique has been developed in India and is i.a. used in the Taj Mahal and many other famous buildings. In Europe, it is specially used in northern Italy by the rich Medici family for their private homes and churches.
Item number: 8481