Kneeler

This dates from the early years of Piffetti’s career and takes inspiration from the Roman furnishings that the artist had seen during his years of training in the city of the Popes (c.1722-1730). The intarsia with rose bushes and rocaille scrolls that decorate the panels were made with great naturalistic expertise, with direct reference to botanical texts of the time; they recall the floral motifs that appear on the Mazirin-style desk on display in the Sala Feste and on the bookcase formerly in Villa della Regina and, since 1889, at the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, which was made between 1735 and 1740.