Walking down the street in Florence, Italy a couple of weeks ago, Jo-Ann poked her head into a doorway and came and got us. “Hey, let’s check this out, she says…..” Turns out it was an old-school inlay shop – the sort that makes pictures and table tops and the like. VERY expensive, I’m afraid… I’ll mostly just post the pics we shot..
First the picture is drawn like a cartoon – hard black lines with white spaces. Then each element is carefull cut out of paper and used as a template or pattern on the stone slabs. Each piece is cut with the saw, and then assembly is with a beeswax mixture. Once we told the owner we were jewelers and I talked to him about my own stone experience, he opened his doors wide for us… Nice man, cool shop, old school work beautifully done.
johndonivan
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorry Justin – didn’t know this comment was here for a long time… And I don’t recall the name, at the moment. I believe I posted it on the thread in Orchid, though. You could search the archives…..Thanks, John D.
Dear John, Which shop was this? I discovered pietra dura last time I was in Florence, am going back this summer with my parents, and would like to find a few shops with high-quality pieces — not the mass-produced stuff! I’ve been to the Museo d. Opf. d. Pietre Dure before and we’ll definitely go there but I’d like to purchase a piece this time. If you can remember the name or location of the shop, I would greatly appreciate it. Grazie mille!
My hearts desire when I see fine and historically rooted artisan work is to have enough money to buy a piece – for my desire and for the artists gratification.
Hi John,
Thanks for the heads-up about this on Orchid, and for the lovely photos on your blog!
I don’t know if the shop owner mentioned it, but this technique is known as “pietra dure”. I saw this done in India, in a stone workshop near the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan brought Italian pietra dure specialists to India to teach local artisans the technique, which he wanted used on the Taj. My husband and I were lucky to see artisans doing this skilled and time-consuming work, and were amazed by the workmanship on the Taj Mahal itself! It’s so much more sophisticated than my mental picture of the Taj as a child (when I decided that I HAD to see it!) — the description was “covered with jewels”, which led me to assume they were set stones from an Ali Baba-type hoarde.
Thanks again for your generosity in posting your photos!
Debbie Gillaspie
P.S.
PBS has a lovely little webpage about the technique, see
http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/taj_mahal/tlevel_2/t4visit_4pietra.html
That is amazing! Thanks for posting the pictures!
What a marvellous ‘find’ … it’s always thrilling to see great craftsmanship in progress.
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