Pietra dura panel. Italy, XVII century

Italian school of the seventeenth century.
Pietra dura panel with hunting scene.
Semiprecious stones inlaid on marble background.
Measurements: 28 × 20 cm; 39 x 31 cm (frame).

This exquisite pietra dura panel, made in Italy during the 17th century, represents a lively hunting scene of bucolic inspiration, resolved with a technical mastery that reflects the tradition of the decorative arts linked to the Florentine workshops of the Medici. The work presents a hunter with a harquebus, accompanied by his dog, at the moment of shooting a bird that takes flight, with a mountainous landscape in the background where buildings with waving banners stand.
The scene is composed using the meticulous technique of commesso di pietre dure, consisting of cutting and inlaying semi-precious stones and marbles of different shades to form a figurative image without resorting to painting. In this work we can appreciate materials such as lapis lazuli, jasper, brocatelle marble, red breccia, white marble and others, which confer a vibrant chromatic and tactile richness to the whole.
The composition, despite its reduced size, is charged with dynamism: the bird, carved with amber and reddish stones, seems suspended in the air; the dog, with its alert attitude, provides narrative tension; and the landscape, with its variety of marbles, establishes depth and texture. These types of pieces not only served as decorative objects but also formed part of aristocratic collection cabinets, where they were exhibited as a sign of refinement and erudition.
Similar works, many of them from the famed Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence (founded in 1588 by Ferdinand I de' Medici), are now kept in institutions such as the Museo degli Argenti at Palazzo Pitti and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
The excellent state of conservation of the panel, together with the richness of its composition, makes this work a coveted example of Italian Baroque decorative art.