Pair Of Hard Stone Mosaic Panels, Pietre Dure, Florence 17th Century

Attributed to Baccio del Bianco for the Grand-Ducal workshops, based on zoological engravings by Antonio Tempesta (Florence 1555-1630).
Depicting a leopard and a horse, within oval Alberese of the Arno stone backgrounds (with their luminous pale yellow tone and landscape elements such as arborescence, typical detail of a pietre paesina).
The primary role of these panels was to decorate cabinets. They survived the decline of the latter, kept by collectors as separate items, admired for their own sake.
The art of hard stone 'mosaic' for decorative purposes was used in many European courts from the mid-16th century, but it was at the Medici court in Florence that it reached its peak heyday, particularly under the patronage of Cosimo I (r. 1569-74), his son Francesco (r. 1574-87), and Cosimo's brother Ferdinand I (r. 1587-1609), who officially established the Grand Ducal workshop, the Galleria dei Lavori, in 1588.
For similar panels illustrating the tradition of depicting animals in 17th-century Florentine pietra dura, including those depicted in a table top including panels in the style of Baccio del Bianco, see Anna Maria Giusti, 'Pietre Dure: Hardstone in Furniture and Decorations', London 1992, p.83, fig. 26, p.218, fig.76.

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