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This auction is for a Hand Crafted Italian Inlay Sorrento Music Box
Color: Elm Wood
Number: 182
Size: 6 x 4 x 2
Song: Anniversary Song
With Key
The box is Elm Wood with Dark Oak trim and the inlay is set in different wood tones.
This lovely box is covered with a Violin, a Mandolin and Flowers inlaid on the lid. The inside is covered in red velvet. There is a cover over the mechanical music movement for protection. This piece is new in the original box.
The Ancient Art of Inlay
Inlay (marquetry) began as early as the 6th and 7th centuries with the Benedictine Monks. Few crafts have experienced the span of one century - the 19th - the splendor, recognition, and international diffusion that Tarsia Sorentia (Sorrento Inlay) enjoyed. The beginning of this enchanting art can be dated to the 1827 with the work of the Sorrentine Antonio Damora, who was summoned by Francis I of Burbon to restore and furnish Naple's Palazzo Reale, (The Royal Court at Naples).
Returning to Sorrento, Damora learned the techniques used in Nicean wood inlay, which was introduced in Sorrento in 1840. Along with other artists, such as Luigi Gargiulo, Michele Grandville, Guiseppe Maggiolini, (who introduced floral inlays) and Francesco Grandi, (director of the Scuola d'Arte di Sorrento who first used veneer in Marquetry), Damora led the way for the production of inlay objects that, in a very short period, won awards and medals, and reached half the world's market. Important patrons of the arts such as Ferdinand of Burbon and Pope Pius IX contributed to the growth of the Sorrentine inlay industry.
Unlike other inlay work in its use of different colored woods, Sorrentine inlay based is chromatic effects on the chiaroscuro play the tonal contracts of two local woods walnut and orange. To these two were soon added the olive and other imported woods.
The basis of inlay design was originally inspired by Pompeian models and local traditions. The reason for the high artistic value of Sorrentine inlay is its absolute independence from contemporary forms of inlay work.
The initial technique of mosaic-like inlay, executed by had with Carthusian patience, evolved into painting with watercolors on the wood design, known as "enamel on wood", although the inlay work was still performed with gouges and saws. In 1876, machines were designed in America that were perfectly adapted for fretting wood. The evolution of the techniques of inlay continues today in Sorrento.
Each music box is fitted with a high quality mechanical movement, made in Switzerland. If properly cared for, (PLEASE DO NOT OVERWIND), this lovely art treasure will represent an investment, which will ever-increasing dividends in both pleasure and value for years to come.
IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!! THIS BOX IS AN ORIGINAL HAND MADE PIECE. VISUAL IMPERFECTIONS ARE ATTRIBUTABLE, TO HAND ASSEMBLY AND STAINING. THESE ARE THE MARK OF QUALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY.
TO PRESERVE THE FINISH & DELICATE COLORATION OF THE WOODS, DO NOT EXPOSE TO EXTREME HEAT OR DIRECT LIGHT.
All measurements are approximate and colors may vary from the Photograph
