Prie-dieu of the Electress Palatine
by FOGGINI, Giambattista, Ebony, gilded bronze, semiprecious stones, 91 x 67 x 42 cm
This prie-dieu was made to the design of architect and sculptor Giambattista Foggini in the Galleria dei Lavori (grand ducal semi-precious stones workshop) in Florence. It is now in the King’s Bedroom of Royal and Imperial Apartments in Palazzo Pitti.
In an elegant contrast of colours and materials, the gilded bronze appliqu�s and the triumph of decorations in semiprecious stones stand out against the black ebony of the wooden structure, alternating the plastic impetus of two soft junction volutes with the more schematic shape of the linear support surfaces.
Together with the Elector Palatine’s cabinet and the stoup decorated with the Annunciation, the prie-dieu was part of a collection of masterpieces in semiprecious stones sent to D�sseldorf in 1707 as a gift from Cosimo III to his daughter, Anna Maria Luisa, who had gone there as bride to the Elector Palatine. Like the other pieces, this too made its return to Pitti Palace in 1717, when the widowed Electress Palatine came back to Florence.