By Rafe Calder
The floor of one Florentine chapel was finished in 1962, more than three and a half centuries after its architect was appointed.
That chapel is the Cappella dei Principi, the Chapel of the Princes, in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Wikipedia says work began under Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici, who appointed the architect and sculptor Matteo Nigetti in 1604. Nigetti completed the mausoleum in 1640, assisted by Alessandro Pieroni and Don Giovanni de’ Medici. The vault’s internal decoration was painted by Pietro Benvenuti between 1828 and 1837, and the flooring was only completed in 1962.
The stone
The chapel is the best-known showcase for pietre dure. Wikipedia’s article on the craft defines it as the inlay technique of cutting and fitting highly polished coloured stones to make images, and calls it stone marquetry. The Chapel article says the interior has porphyry sarcophagi and inlays in commesso, Florentine mosaic, made with coloured stones, mother of pearl, lapis lazuli and coral. It adds that the sarcophagi are actually empty, with remains in underground crypt rooms, and that the Holy Sepulchre meant for the centre was never acquired. Six grand-ducal tombs are shown in wall niches, among them Cosimo I (1519 to 1574), Francesco I (1541 to 1587) and Cosimo III (1643 to 1723).
A workshop, founded
The craft article says the Opificio delle Pietre Dure was founded in 1588 by Ferdinando I as the Galleria di Lavori, to develop this and other decorative forms. The Opificio article gives the same founding year and says the workshops moved to their present home on Via Alfani in 1796. It says the first works were called opere di commessi, roughly “fitted-together works”, and the stones were sliced and cut into shapes, then assembled so precisely that the joins were practically invisible. For stability, the craft article says, makers grooved the undersides of the stones so that they interlocked, rather like a jigsaw. Many coloured stones were used, particularly marbles, together with semiprecious and even precious stones. We have not seen the workshops’ own account of method.
What commesso means
A third article, on commesso, defines it as piecing together cut sections of narrow gemstones to form works of art, and says it is also called Florentine mosaic. It describes the method: cutting precise patterns into a marble slab, typically black, setting the gems into the cuts, and polishing section by section instead of as a whole, because the gems differ in hardness. It says the practice dates back to at least the fourteenth century and gained prominence just before the seventeenth. The two descriptions differ in emphasis. One has the stones cut and interlocked, the other has them set into a slab, and the article does not say whether they describe different kinds of work. We are not reconciling them.
Dates that do not sit neatly
The craft article places the Opificio’s founding at 1588. The commesso article says the practice dates back to at least the fourteenth century. The Chapel article says the commesso practice was started in 1588 by the Opificio. Those are not in conflict, since one is an old technique and the other an institution, but the sources do not explain the earlier history, and neither do we.
Tables and trinkets
Table tops were particularly prized, according to the craft article, and were the largest pieces. Smaller works included medallions, cameos, wall plaques, panels inserted into doors or cabinets, bowls, jardinières, garden ornaments, fountains and benches. It says the form spread across Europe and reached Mughal India by the early seventeenth century, where it was known as parchin kari and famously appears in the Taj Mahal. That last point stands on one article, and we have not compared it with a source on Mughal inlay.
Decline, and a new job
The article says that by the twentieth century the medium was in decline, partly because of modernism, and had been reduced mainly to restoration. It says that in recent decades the form has been revived and receives state-funded sponsorship. We have not checked the funding claim.
The Opificio article tells the next part. A restoration laboratory was founded in 1932 by Ugo Procacci, described as the first modern restoration laboratory in Italy, preceding the national restoration institute in Rome by seven years. In 1975 the Cultural Heritage Ministry merged the Opificio’s laboratories with another restoration office and created the modern institute. The article says it is one of two Italian state conservation schools. So the workshop that made inlay now also teaches how to repair old work. We have not read the institute’s own description of its courses.
The museum
The Opificio article says a small museum on Via Alfani displays pietre dure works including cabinets, tabletops and plates, a baroque fireplace covered in malachite and pieces from the Medici era. We have not confirmed opening hours or what is on show.
What we could not find
We found no source on how many people practise commesso in Florence today, on how long a table top takes to make, or on which workshops sell to the public. We are not quoting prices, and we are not naming a workshop.
What to ask
Ask whether a piece is old, a restoration or a new work. Ask what each stone is and where it came from, because a polished surface can hide a substitution. Ask whether the pieces are cut and fitted by hand. Ask who designed it and who cut it. Ask for care advice before you buy.
We are not naming a workshop. We have not sourced one for this piece.
Roam first. Shop later.
If you work stone inlay, the process for getting listed is at /sell-with-sephari/