An Italian Neoclassical straw marquetry table, late 18th century

with an inset alabaster top.

Areas of rubbing, losses, patches, and infill to marquetry throughout. Some minor discolouration, mainly on the back with a few white and black streaks on the back. Age split in the lower rail to the back on the proper left side, which is slightly loose. Minor rubbing to gilt bronze mounts. One keyhole escutcheon loose and detached but present. IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PURCHASERS – CHANGE OF PROPERTY LOCATION POST SALE Purchasers may pay for and pick up their purchases at our York Avenue headquarters until the close of business on the day of each respective auction. After this time, sold property will be transferred to our new offsite facility, Crozier Fine Arts, One Star Ledger Plaza, 69 Court Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102. Once property has been transferred from our York Avenue location, it will not be available for collection at Crozier Fine Arts for two business days. Crozier's hours of operation for collection are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday. Please note, certain items of property, including jewelry, watches, silver, works on panel and items valued $10 million or more will remain at 1334 York Avenue. Invoices and statements will indicate your property's location. For more information regarding collection from our offsite facility, please visit sothebys.com/pickup.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The technique of straw marquetry is most often associated with France, and although it was mainly used for small boxes and objects, several 18th-century tables and writing desks veneered with straw marquetry are recorded in public and private collections.  The same technique however is also known to have been practiced in Italy since the 16th century. During his Grand Tour in 1646, the diarist John Evelyn records a visit to a Milan convent where the nuns were crafting liturgical and devotional objects decorated with straw marquetry, and a Florentine lidded casket of c.1600 decorated with hunting and battle scenes in straw marquetry is in the Intarsia Museum in Sorrento (ill. A. Fiorentino, Il Museobottega della Tarsia Lignea, Naples 1999, p.45).   This elegant small table is an exceptionally rare survival, and it is difficult to pinpoint with certainty where in Italy is was created.  The Neoclassical inlaid ornament is particularly associated with late 18th century Lombard furniture design, and similar straw marquetry geometric and chevron-pattern decoration appears on a slant-front desk attributed to a Northern Italian hand in the Cleveland Museum of Art.  Comparable inlay work does however occur throughout the peninsula, including Tuscany and Southern Italy.  The amusing marquetry vignettes on the sides and back - depicting figures in exotic dress smoking, a European and Moorish soldier in combat, and a Chinese pavilion in a park - suggest a center familiar with North African and Levantine subjects such as Venice, Naples or Sicily, and indeed the Chinese pavilion seems to owe its inspiration in part to the King of Naples' Palazzina Cinese in the Favorita park outside Palermo, which dates from the same period as this table.