Featured Carved plaque...... V&A ......excitement!!!!

I agree that he wouldn't have carved each character exactly the same on every piece he did, not only would it look strange but there is the size of each piece to take into account, my carving has a lot going on in quite a small space. Just in this photo I can see many things that are carved in the same way as mine and they almost look identical, the black motif along the bottom is the same as mine going round the edge, the bird holding the grapes, the funny round things on the scrolling, the dragons mouth, the snake, the scrolling it's self, the micro stippling where there is no carving, the dragons on the top of mine are the same design only much smaller. I tried to draw on this photo but the size of the file changed from 990kb to 3.2mb the site wouldn't let me upload. As I say being able to view my carving from all angles to compare against stock photos of his known works leaves me in little doubt it's by him. There wasn't that many carvers doing this sort of carving in the 19thc and when you have looked (over years) at all of them closely only one really stands out. When you look at all the facts, mine is from the 19thc, it has the quality to stand against many of his known lesser works, it has many similarities with his work (far more than any other carver doing the same sort of work) It wasn't sold to me for loads of money and I'm quite happy if I find out that it's by a different less known carver but who? I haven't even found someone else I could say "it maybe by him"

 

This one?

 

http://www.eurodecart.com/european-ivories-19c/siena-primavera-wall-plaque

 

"Many of the frames, with differing designs, but basically incorporating the same arabesque and trailing foliage vocabulary with birds, were exhibited in London (1862) and in Paris (1867), and are illustrated in Masterpieces of 19th-century Decorative Art, Pepin Press, 2001, pp. 309, 342, 343."

Have you requested this volume from your library? Or through its inter-library exchange program?

Debora

 

I am going to do this, the book is in my ebay watch list, I was half hoping the V&A might come up with something first

 

This one:

 

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O368769/frame-frame/
The Museum purchased this frame as a new item in 1861, to provide an example of modern Italian carving. Although the maker is not known, it bears many similarities with the work of Luigi Frullini in Florence, and of the studios of Angelo Lombardi and Pietro Giusti in Sienna.

Nineteenth-century Italian carvers were inspired by Renaissance masters, such as the Sienese carver and intarsia worker Antonio Barili (1453-1516) and his nephew Giovanni, who made a frame also in the collection of the V&A (926-1900). The form of this frame was probably taken directly from a Renaissance object such as an oval mirror frame now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

Renaissance motifs of scrolling foliage interlaced with mythical beasts, birds and insects gave free range to the imagination and provided a vehicle through which a range of skills, such as the technique of undercutting, could be displayed by the carver.

 

Update just to let you know how things are going .......Ok I've had some correspondence with the V&A my first contact was "
Dear V&A
Hi, we have tried to do some research into a piece we own and we believe this could be by the Italian carver Pietro Giusti of Siena, we have contacted the University Di Siena and they say they only hold a thesis on Giusti but they were helpful in saying that plate 140 in the "Memoir of Memories" (which is an original manuscript left byPietro Giusti's wife in 1912 and resides in the Siena municipal library) resembles my piece but only being a university and giving us no titles of the people we spoke with leaves us just as in the dark as we were before we spoke with them.
You have a piece that is very similar to the piece we own (museum number 7881-1861) although after studying detailed photos of that frame we think ours could be by a different carver.
Our piece has been hung above an open fire for many years and as a result the wood has darkened, you can clearly smell the coal tar.
We have studied some of Giusti's known works and there are many themes that run through each piece that we see in ours. The dragons, fountain, ribboning in picture 1. The birds, snakes, mask, shield, ribboning in picture 2. The dragons, scrolling, beading, birds in picture 3.
The gilded centre piece is made of bronze backed with red velvet, pictures 4-13 are of the plaque we own.
We would be happy to send better more detailed photos if needed.
We thank you in advance"
Their reply was ........."
Many thanks for your email. I have had a look at your carving and sent it onto our 19th century curator. Was there a specific question or opinion you would like regarding it?


Many thanks"
I then sent this "
Thank you for your reply, I have been trying to find out who carved and if (as I suspect) that it was carved by Pietro Giusti? I thought the V&A might just have some records of Giusti's work as his wife left 4 large books in the Siena municipal library and I wondered if you might have a copy? I think the V&A employed him while he was still alive.
I know this is a long shot but it would be a lost work of his if it does turn out to be recorded.
If that isn't possible then an opinion on who carved it, where and when and any info you can give would be greatly appreciated."
They then sent this this morning
"
I will most certainly look into this for you, we should have a file on Giusti, and I shall call it up to see what we have. Although we can give you our opinion on your carving we cannot provide an authentication service, but I do hope we can help you out with a little bit more information."

I hope this goes somewhere but if it doesn't then I have other options, fingers crossed

 

I have had a reply and I'm expecting a opinion from the 19thc curator but thus far it's not looking promising

"
I have been in contact with our Registry and they do not have any files on Pietro Giusti. We do have some information on him within our department, which I will summarise for you below. Hopefully with this additional information you will be able to add to your research on your piece.


Gisuti (1822-78) was the son of a tailor and trained from 1836 in the workshop of Angiolo Barbetti. Barbetti worked in Siena between 1827 and 1842, then moving to Florence. Giusti became head of the Sienese workshop, eventually following Barbetti to Florence. He worked on commissions for the Villa San Donato, concentrating on an ebony picture frame. In 1845 he returned to Siena and set up his own workshop, demonstrating a skill of neo-renaissance carving. One such example is a walnut console table exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Giusti became an exhibitor at European exhibitions and a well established teacher of carving in Siena and Turin. In 1863 he employed ten wood carvers, 24 assistant cabinet makers and over 100 pupils.


Giusti made many preparatory drawings for his pieces, and had many commissions from Europe and Britain . He produced a catalogue in 1860, in which he stated 94 percent of his commissions were for export from Italy.


I have attached a little bit more information in the word document. This is an article taken from the National Trust, Historic Houses & Collections Annual 1994.


We have a frame in our collection which was purchased in order for us to have an example of mid 19th century Italian carving, and although it is said to be in the style of Giusti it has not been attributed to him."

 

I wish I could get to see these Giusti's catalogues
http://www.omnia.ie/index.php?navigation_function=3&europeana_query=Pietro+Giusti

 

raver, those are by a different Pietro Giusti. They were written in the early 20th century by a Pietro Giusti who researched Italian popular tradition: stories, songs, prayers.
It seems to be a popular name, or a talented family. There is another Prof Pietro Giusti who currently works at the university of Padova.

 

Oh lol see this Italian isn't my field and to confuse the matter further the carver Giusti was also a Prof I've come to the conclusion I might have to employ someone in Italy to go and look at all the papers spread all over the country if I really want to know and I don't even know if it's worth the punt. If I did find out (with conclusive proof) is was by Giusti what would it be worth? £1000? £10,000? £100,000? I haven't had the guts to ask the New York seller what he wants for his

http://www.eurodecart.com/european-ivories-19c/siena-primavera-wall-plaque

 

"Although we can give you our opinion on your carving we cannot provide an authentication service,"

I so knew this was coming !!!
Even if they knew for sure...they wouldn't , say for sure !!

Ask the seller what he wants.....act interested .....he may have information you need !!!!

 

Seems to me many pieces would have to be attributed to Giusti, workshop of. I don't know how much of any one piece you could confidently ascribe to Giusti's own hand.

This focuses on Frullini, but is an interesting discussion of the whole Renaissance revival wood sculpting scene:

https://www.newportmansions.org/documents/learn/luigi frullini paper.pdf

 

That's a very good idea, I was going to get just the price but asking them why and what justification they have to attribute their piece to Giusti is a fantastic idea...Thanks

 

I found a pair of wall brackets on ebay by Giusti with labels, I later found the exact drawings by Giusti for them being attributed to another pair of brackets that wern't the same, I messaged the seller who was from Italy and gave him the link to the drawings. I did ask him if he could help me but he couldn't. I'm sure many of the pieces produced by his workshop were lesser pieces, still very good but more functional than artistic. I suspect mine is before he started the workshop and that's the reason mine doesn't have a label on. It's amazing how members on here have the same thoughts and searching methods as me, many of the links are the same ones I have found lol including the above link

 

The person who bought this was me

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Masterpi...006360&hash=item261b96adaa:g:ID4AAOSwZ65cyGUz

 

This looked promising, but I couldn't get that book to appear - maybe you'll have better luck - FREE!!! (screen shot, not a link)

 

Thank you but I think that might just be the cover download, I did try and find the book on online and couldn't so I've bought a copy.