Rare cadre napolitain en écaille de tortue piquée d'or, comprenant un reliquaire à paperolles enchassé dans un compartiment en bronze doré, circa 1740, présenté avec un dessin de la Sainte Famille d'après Raphael du XIXe siècle

A rare Neapolitan gold piqué tortoiseshell frame enclosing a reliquary, circa 1740, with an associated 19th century drawing after Raphael


The shaped rectangular frame with pierced foliate and flowering surround and cresting, with a associated oval inner frame with piqué foliate sprays, centred by a reliquary 'à paperolles' in a gilt-bronze frame compartment, presented with an associated drawing of the Holy Family after Raphael (to hide the reliquary), 21.5cm wide x 3cm deep x 33cm high, (8in wide x 1in deep x 12 1/2in high)
Footnotes:
Piqué is the fabulous and intricate technique of decorating tortoiseshell by piercing its surface and filling the gaps and spaces with gold or silver pins and other cut-out elements to create a sumptuous effect and genre designs. The technique originated in Naples in the late 17th century but it is only in the second quarter of the 18th century that it reached its apogee. These attractive and very visual objects soon took the form of utilitarian objects as small trays, snuff-boxes, inkwells, brushes and even small occasional tables, and other decorative pieces as the rare frame here offered. Piqué soon became all the rage in the second part of the 18th century in the European courts and aristocratic circles. In 1755, Robert Adam bought in Naples three 'very handsome snuff-boxes of yellow and black tortoise-shell studded with gold' (John Fleming, Robert Adam and his Circle..., London, 1962, p.157). Lady Anne Miller commented in a letter of 1771, written from Naples: 'This city is famous for a manufacture of tortoiseshell, which they inlay curiously with gold, and are very ingenious at representing any object you choose'. Some of the most striking masterpieces by the Tartarugari Magnifici were signed, one of the celebrated crafstman was Sarao, known for his quality of inlay and originality of designs. Such a signed inkstand is in The Wallace Collection (inv. no. XXIIIA 35), while the greatest Piqué collections were formed by The Rothschilds at both Mentmore and Waddesdon, the latter thoroughly discussed in G. de Bellaigue, the James A. De Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Furniture, clocks and Gilt-Bronzes, London, 1974, pp. 827-844. The frame here offered is a very rare survival of this type, and is here used as a reliquary object, with the addition of a gilt-metal frame to the back fitted with the reliquary. It was subsequently hidden with an associated drawing as seen today. For a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated study on Piqué see A. Kugel, Complètement Piqué, Le Fol Art de l'Ecaille à la Cour de Naples, Milano, 2018.