Steel pedestal table with hard stone top, Rome circa 1820

Rich circular top in white marble inlaid with a band of “sea green” marble and 196 samples of marble and hard stone, separated by shelves in black marble, with a central reserve in “cipolinno” marble.

Among the samples:

Marbles: Portor, peach blossom, grand antico, Medici breccia, Serravezza, Médous, Arzo, African, brocatelle from Spain, Cipolin from Greece, yellow from Siena, rose from Valencia, red from Languedoc, levanto, incarnat turquin, turquin blue, Sicilian diaspre, lumachelle, Coraline breccia…


Very good state of conservation..

The Roman work tray around 1820, attributable to Francesco Sibilio, director of the workshop of the St Peter factory in the Vatican.

The tripod base in beaten and riveted steel, France 19th century.


Dimensions: Height: 73 cm; Diameter: 65 cm


Our opinion :

The tray we present was purchased during a so-called Grand Tour trip in the 1820s.
This trip was intended to complete the education and raise the interests of aristocratic youth, just after their studies, then essentially based on the Greek and Latin humanities. The destination was mainly Italy, although stays often began in the south of France and ended in Greece.
It was in good taste to bring back a very beautiful decorative object, to adorn your future home, a bronze replica or an ancient monument, a collection of intaglios, or as is the case here, a tray with a sampling of hard stones.
These trays then returned to different European countries and were mounted on pedestal tables by the greatest cabinetmakers or bronzers of the time.

The only workshops capable of bringing together such rare varieties were located in Rome, a city where all the most beautiful varieties of stone from the four corners of the empire converged for several centuries.
Among these workshops, the St Pierre factory located in the Vatican specialized in the production of this type of tray.
Created in the 16th century, this body of the Roman curia is responsible for the management and maintenance of the Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome; in the 19th century it was the only workshop to be able to officially purchase and use stones from excavations .
Within the organization, several lapidary and mosaic workshops work on the restoration of the basilica but also on the design of pontifical gifts or luxury goods intended for a wealthy clientele who have come on the grand tour.