VENICE, PARTS POSSIBLY 18TH CENTURY, REDECORATED

This playful and eclectic table is decorated with cut-up polychrome-decorated prints used to imitate the visual effects of lacquer, known variously as lacca povera, arte povera, or lacca contrafatta. This technique involved laying prints on a generally light colored ground, often pale blue, yellow or white, which was then covered with a specific yellowish varnish called sandracca. The sandracca was intended to simulate the shiny and glossy surface of Asian lacquer while attenuating the contrast of the glued printed vignettes. In Italy, the birthplace of lacca povera, the inspiration for this type of decoration originated from the intense commercial exchanges that port cities like Venice and Genoa entertained with Asia throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, when every type of lacquer-ware was being imported from both Japan and China. Although Venice was one of the first cities in Europe to produce imitations of Asian lacquer and pioneered various affordable versions of the rare and extremely expensive Asian import, every region of Italy had its own distinctive tradition of producing japanned furniture. Several centers for the production of arte povera by so-called laccatori soon flourished in various cities throughout the country as a means of satisfying the growing demand for this lacquer work. Italian imitation lacquer eventually became a substitute not only for its Asian counterpart, but also for many European versions, such as those produced in Berlin, Dresden, and Paris. A very similar table in the Il Campiello Collection, Milan, is illustrated G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Veneziano del Settecento, Milan, 1964, pl. 263.