{"id":1735,"date":"2016-05-19T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cesatiecesati.com\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2023-09-28T11:13:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T11:13:59","slug":"a-rare-pair-of-arte-povera-vases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/a-rare-pair-of-arte-povera-vases\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rare pair of \u2018arte povera\u2019 Vases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finely decorated with multi-coloured flowers, insects and leaves, this rare and unique pair of baluster-shaped wooden vases \u2013 with ovoid body and scalloped-edge \u2013 belongs to a category of objects and furniture traditionally catalogued by means of the term\u00a0arte povera<\/em>.
\nArte povera<\/em>, basically an equivalent variation of\u00a0lacca povera<\/em>\u00a0(poor man\u2019s lacquer), refers to a well-known decorative technique introduced in Venice during the 18th century, whereby sheets of engravings \u2013 often with Oriental subject (chinoiserie<\/em>) \u2013 were coloured, cut-out and pasted onto furniture or objects and then covered with multiple coats of a varnish called\u00a0sandracca<\/em>\u00a0(a natural resin) in order to produce a high-gloss finish very similar to a \u2018lacquer\u2019.
\nThis Venetian technique \u2013 which became immediately fashionable and was therefore readily appreciated and imitated in different Italian contexts as well as in many parts of Europe \u2013 was initially used to decorate only works in wood, but later also applied to glass and metal artifacts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beyond their actual uniqueness, these two very beautiful vases are particularly interesting and outstanding because of the wonderful flowers adorning their surfaces. These are not merely cut-out from paper, but from specific Genoese textiles called\u00a0mezzari<\/em>.
\nFrom the early 13th century on, the term\u00a0mezzaro<\/em>\u00a0indicates in Genoa \u2013 as well as in Corsica and Sardinia \u2013 a particular kind of cloth. This term co<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

mes from the arabic word\u00a0mi\u2019zar<\/em>, \u2018veil\u2019 or \u2018cloak\u2019.<\/p>\n

Women used this cloth either to cover their heads or for home furnishings: in both cases, it was a part of the bridal kit.<\/p>\n

More precisely, since 1750 the word\u00a0mezzaro<\/em>\u00a0is used to indicate a flowered cloth, linen or cotton, printed with particularly vibrant colors. These were intended as an imitation of the Indian textiles imported by the Genoese already centuries before.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The wonderful naturalistic flowers, leaves and insects ornaments adorning the present vases were most certainly cut out from those rich textiles which the Genoese upper classes used to hand down from generation to generation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PAIR OF VASES<\/strong>
\nWood decorated with\u00a0arte povera<\/em>\u00a0technique
\nNorthern Italy (Piedmont)
\nSecond half 18th century
\nCm 27 x 47 h<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finely decorated with multi-coloured flowers, insects and leaves, this rare and unique pair of baluster-shaped wooden vases \u2013 with ovoid body and scalloped-edge \u2013 belongs to a category of objects and furniture traditionally catalogued by means of the term\u00a0arte povera. Arte povera, basically an equivalent variation of\u00a0lacca povera\u00a0(poor man\u2019s lacquer), refers to a well-known decorative …<\/p>\n

A Rare pair of \u2018arte povera\u2019 Vases<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opera-d-arte-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cesatiecesati.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}