VENETIAN CENTRE TABLE, CARVED AND GILT.
(In the South Kensington Museum.)
The walls of these handsome saloons or galleries were hung with rich velvet of Genoese manufacture, with stamped and gilt leather, and a composition ornament was also applied to woodwork, and then gilded and painted, a kind of decoration termed "gesso work."
MARRIAGE COFFER IN CARVED WALNUT.
(Collection of Comte de Briges).
PERIOD: RENAISSANCE (XVI. CENTURY) VENETIAN.
A rich effect was produced on the carved console tables, chairs, stools and frames intended for gilding, by the method employed by the Venetian and Florentine craftsmen, the gold leaf being laid on a red preparation, and then the chief portions highly burnished. There are in the South Kensington Museum several specimens of such work, and now that time and wear have caused this red groundwork to shew through the faded gold, the harmony of color is very satisfactory. Other examples of fifteenth century Italian carving, such as the old Cassone fronts, are picked out with gold, the remainder of the work displaying the rich warm color of the walnut or chestnut wood, either of which was most invariably used.
