Object Description
A fine large Italian ebonised pietra dura cigar humidor casket, circa 1880 in date.
The rectangular box features a lift-up lid which opens to reveal a Spanish cedar-lined interior with circular cigar divisions.
The lid and sides are inset with pietra dura panels of pipes matches and cigars in malachite, blue john, and various exotic minerals.
This humidor has a very stylish and timeless design and would make any cigar connoisseur happy.
Complete with working lock and key.
Condition:
In really excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, waxed and the interior relined in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 18 cm x Width 13.5 cm x Depth 13.5 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 7 inches x Width 5 inches x Depth 5 inches
Pietra dura is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished coloured stones to create images. It is considered a decorative art.
Pietre dure is an Italian plural meaning “hard rocks” or hardstones; the singular pietra dura is also encountered in Italian. In Italian, but not in English, the term embraces all gem engraving and hardstone carving, which is the artistic carving of three-dimensional objects in semi-precious stone, normally from a single piece, for example in Chinese jade.
The traditional convention in English has been to use the singular pietra dura just to denote multi-colored inlay work. However, in recent years there has been a trend to use pietre dure as a term for the same thing, but not for all of the techniques it covers, in Italian.
But the title of a 2008 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe used the full Italian sense of the term, probably because they thought that it had greater brand recognition. The material on the website speaks of objects such as a vase in lapis lazuli as being examples of “hardstone carving (pietre dure)”
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London uses both versions on its website, but uses pietra dura. “A method of inlaying coloured marbles or semi-precious stones into a stone base, often in geometric or flower patterns….”
Giovanni Montelatici (1864-1930) was an Italian Florentine artist whose brilliant work has been distributed across the world by tourists and collectors. Owners of Giovanni’s work included Donald Trump.
Humidor
is any kind of box or room with constant humidity that is used to store cigars, cigarettes, orpipe tobacco. For private use, small wooden or acrylic glass humidor boxes for a few dozen cigars are used, while cigar shops may have walk-in humidors.
Humidors can be used to store other goods for which a certain level of humidity is desirable; the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team stores game balls in a large humidor at their home stadium, Coors Field, to counteract the effects of Denver’s high altitude and generally low humidity. Humidors of all sizes use hygrometers to keep track of the humidity levels.
Our reference: A3853