Lot 223: AN ITALIAN HARDSTONE AND GOLD NOTEBOOK COVER SET WITH A CAMEO

Florence, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, circa 1810, the cameo by Nicola Morelli (1771-1838), signed under truncation 'MORELLI' Rectangular cover for a notebook, the front and back cover inset with malachite panels bordered with chalcedony borders tied with red and brown agate simulated ribbons, the front cover centred by an onyx cameo carved with the profile of Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1777-1820) to the right, wearing a pearl necklace and pearl drop earrings, her curly hair upswept and tied with a net and a ribbon, framed by a reeded gold mount stamped with stylized lotus flowers, the back cover centred by her initial 'E' inlaid in chalcedony on a malachite ground, the matted gold mounts stamped with stylized leaves and berries, the rounded matted gold spine stamped with floral rosettes and enamelled in white champlev‚ with Souvenir on a burnished gold panel framed by translucent green enamelled foliate wreathes, the inside of front and back covers lined with green lavastone, a gold pencil holder engraved with a spiralling garland of leaves and topped by a malachite cabochon inserted in the gold clasps at front and rear sides to lock the carnet 3 3/16 in. (80 mm.) high NOTES The Roman gem-carver Nicola Morelli became member of the Academy of San Luca in 1812. Cameos by his hands are to be found in the BibliothŠque Nationale de France, Paris, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, in the Staatliche Mnzsammlung, Munich, in the Museo Napoleonico, Rome, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the British Museum. For more information on this artist, see L. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, 'Nicola Morelli incisore in pietre dure, Accademico di merito di S. Luca, virtuoso del pantheon', Bolletino dei Musei comunali di Roma, nuova serie, VI, 1992, pp. 65-76. Elisa Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon's eldest sister, married Felice Bacciocchi in 1797. She was styled a Princesse Fran‡aise and Imperial Highness in 1804 and became Duchess of Lucca and Piombino in 1805. She managed the economy of her small state so profitably that in 1809, Napoleon assigned her to Tuscany, where she revived the court glories of the Medicis, including the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the Grand Ducal Hardstone Workshops. After Napoleon's fall, Elisa called herself Countess of Compignano.