LANDSCAPE WITH CLASSICAL RUINS

In 1592 Emperor Rudolf II lured the Florentine gioielliere Cosimo Castrucci to Prague to set up a workshop emulating the Florentine technique of pietre dure. Rudolph admired these works for their use of precious materials, and for his curiosity in the scientific-alchemical properties and magical virtues of stones. The first work signed and dated by Cosimo Castrucci for the Prague Imperial Court is a panel which bears the date 1596 based on Pieter Brugel the Elder's painting Hunters in the Snow, which in 1595 had found its way to Prague. By 1598 Rudolph had persuaded Cosimo's son Giovanni to join his father in Prague, and after Cosimo's death in 1602 Giovanni took charge of the workshop output.
The plaques emanating from the Castrucci workshops had a distincty Northern character due to the use of stones from the region around Prague. For example, bohemian jasper was used exclusively in Castrucci plaques, and in the present scene can be identified in the sleeves of the woman. The present plaque is typical of Castrucci output in its depiction of ruins within a rocky landscape with the inclusion of a figure similar to those shown in contemporary Flemish and Dutch engravings. Stylistically the scene resembles the engravings of Joannes and Lucas van Doetecum. However, the use of ancient Roman ruins and the larger scale of the figure is unusual in Castrucci output. The present plaque and the following lot, together with a third plaque, also previously on the Paris art market, compare closely to a plaque from a cabinet previously in the British Royal Collection and now in a private collection in New York (Sarti, op. cit. and A.M. Giusti, Pietra Dura: Hardstones in Furniture and Decorations, London, 1992, pl. 92-4). Giusti has suggested this plaque, which oscillates between the style of Prague and Florence, could be suggestive of the hand of Giuliano di Piero Pandolfini. Pandolfini was Giovanni Castrucci's son-in-law, and was in charge of the Castrucci workshop after Giovanni's death until production in Prague was closed down in 1624. At that point he returned to Florence. The sky is depicted using bohemian alabaster carved in large pieces which is typical of the Castrucci output. In the present plaque, framing blocks of darker stone have been orchestracted to draw viewers into the scene, in a similar manner to a plaque from a cabinet in a private collection, New York, which Giusti has linked to the work of Pandolfini (Sarti, op. cit. and A.M. Giusti, Pietra Dura: Hardstones in Furniture and Decorations, London, 1992, pl. 92-4).