{"product_id":"florentine-giltwood-music-box-with-fragonard-s-a-young-girl-reading-embossed-scroll-ornament-on-a-crackled-ivory-ground-italy-c-1955-1975","title":"Florentine Giltwood Music Box with Fragonard’s “A Young Girl Reading”, Embossed Scroll Ornament on a Crackled Ivory Ground, Italy, c. 1955–1975","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA shallow hinged casket in gilded and painted wood, with a music movement in the base.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eedges are scalloped and serpentine\u003c\/strong\u003e rather than straight, carried all the way round the lid and the box, and finished in \u003cstrong\u003eburnished gold\u003c\/strong\u003e that runs as a band inside the outline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ground is an \u003cstrong\u003eivory crackle\u003c\/strong\u003e — a deliberately crazed paint film over gesso, with the gold showing through where it is worn back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFlanking the centre, \u003cstrong\u003eembossed scroll ornament\u003c\/strong\u003e stands up out of the surface in low relief, pressed into the gesso rather than carved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe centre panel carries a print of \u003cstrong\u003eFragonard’s \u003cem\u003eA Young Girl Reading\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, applied and varnished into the ground, framed by a fine gilt beaded line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside: plain sanded wood, a \u003cstrong\u003edivided two-compartment tray\u003c\/strong\u003e, and brass hinges. Underneath, \u003cstrong\u003efour ball feet\u003c\/strong\u003e, a \u003cstrong\u003ediamond winding key\u003c\/strong\u003e in a brass grommet, and two screws holding the movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is Florentine work, and the finish is the whole craft.\u003c\/strong\u003e Florence built a trade after the war on gilded and painted woodware — boxes, trays, frames, wastebaskets, tissue covers — made by laying gesso over wood, pressing ornament into it, gilding, then painting back over the gold and rubbing through. The scalloped edge, the crackle ground, the embossed scrollwork and the burnished gold band are the signature of that workshop tradition, and they were exported in enormous numbers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt is not an antique, and saying so plainly is the point.\u003c\/strong\u003e Everything about the construction is twentieth-century: the machine-cut scalloped edge, the pressed rather than carved ornament, the applied print, the brass ball feet and the screw-mounted movement. Dated \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1955–1975\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe picture is worth knowing, because it is a real one.\u003c\/strong\u003e Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted \u003cem\u003eA Young Girl Reading\u003c\/em\u003e around 1769. It hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and it is one of the most reproduced images of the French eighteenth century — a girl in a lemon-yellow dress in profile, propped against a cushion, holding a small book at arm's length. Fragonard painted it fast and left the brushwork showing, and part of why it travelled so well onto boxes and trays is that it is a picture of a private, ordinary moment rather than a grand one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe crackle is intentional and it is not damage.\u003c\/strong\u003e A paint film laid over a ground that shrinks at a different rate opens into a fine net as it dries. Florentine finishers used it deliberately, because a crazed ivory over gold reads instantly as age, and because the cracks catch the gold underneath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe box carries \u003cstrong\u003eno maker's mark or label\u003c\/strong\u003e and is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e, as most Florentine giltwood is — the trade was made up of small workshops supplying exporters, and the paper labels that identified them rarely survive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eFlorentine giltwood music box with a hinged lid and a divided interior tray. Approx. 7 in wide, 6 in deep and 3 in high.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eFlorence, Italy. Workshop not identified; offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eShallow rectangular casket with scalloped serpentine edges throughout, hinged lid on brass hinges, two-compartment interior tray, four brass ball feet, and a diamond winding key to the underside\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGesso ground with pressed embossed scrollwork, gilded and overpainted in a crackled ivory rubbed back to the gold, with a burnished gold band following the outline; centre panel with an applied and varnished print of Fragonard’s \u003cem\u003eA Young Girl Reading\u003c\/em\u003e in a gilt beaded frame\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eWood with gesso, gold and paint finish; brass hinges, feet and winder\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eNone. No maker's mark, stamp or label. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1955–1975. Dated on the Florentine gesso-and-gilt finish, the machine-cut scalloped edge, the pressed rather than carved ornament, the applied print and the screw-mounted movement. Not represented as an antique.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGood. The box is sound and square, the lid closes true, the hinges are firm and the interior tray is complete and clean. \u003cstrong\u003eThe fine crazing across the ivory ground is the intended finish, not damage.\u003c\/strong\u003e Expect wear to the gilding along the scalloped edges where the box has been handled, some rubbing and small losses to the ground at the corners, light soiling to the print, and age marks to the plain interior. \u003cstrong\u003eThe movement has not been serviced and is not represented as playing\u003c\/strong\u003e. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA box on a dressing table is one of the few decorative objects that also earns its place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRings, earrings, cufflinks, collar stays, a watch, spare keys, stamps, guitar picks — small things multiply and a divided tray with a lid is the only thing that stops them migrating across a surface. This one has two compartments and a lid that shuts properly, which is more than most decorative boxes manage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is also a genuinely good-looking object. Ivory and gold is a scheme that goes with everything — painted furniture, dark wood, marble, brass — and the scalloped edge and raised scrollwork mean it holds its shape in low light where a plain box would flatten out. On a dressing table, a hall console, a bedside table or a bookshelf it reads as considered rather than as clutter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe picture gives it a second life as a small conversation. Most people recognise the yellow dress without being able to name it; being able to say it is a Fragonard from about 1769 and hangs in Washington is the kind of thing a good object should let you do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt gives well. A wedding, a twenty-first, a housewarming, a graduation — a lidded box is the safest gift there is, because everyone finds a use for one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and gilded gesso has one rule. \u003cstrong\u003eNever use water on it.\u003c\/strong\u003e The ground is water-soluble under the paint and the gilding sits on top of it; a damp cloth will lift both, and it will not come back. Dust with a soft dry brush and nothing else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not polish it and do not wax it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Furniture polish darkens gesso permanently and fills the crackle, which is the finish you are paying for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeep it out of direct sunlight, which will fade the print, and out of damp, which lifts gesso off wood. If you want the movement playing, have a clock or music-box repairer look at it rather than winding it hard — an unserviced movement is easy to break and cheap to service.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047022637161,"sku":"VE-0734","price":115.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/C96B0642-0C4F-4F86-81EF-C7DB71F7A8DF.jpg?v=1789273787","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/florentine-giltwood-music-box-with-fragonard-s-a-young-girl-reading-embossed-scroll-ornament-on-a-crackled-ivory-ground-italy-c-1955-1975","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}