Italian Inlaid Marble Tabletop

Soon enough, Florence developed its own variation of this decorative
craft, employing figural decoration – plants, trophies, etc. –
supplementing the more rigorously geometric design characteristic of
Roman work.
The design of the table described here adheres to that earlier, Roman
approach. And yet, as we shall see, it is closely related to another,
almost certainly later, inlaid marble top which also exhibits Florentine
characteristics.
Our table is 58.625” x 44.5”. It includes a marble edge similar to
portoro, but which may be giallo e nero antico, a not quite identical
stone whose quarrying began earlier. Inside this is a band of repeating
geometric ornament in a variety of stones including carrara, bianco
e nero antico, at least three different types of brecciated marbles –
traccagnini, corallina, and possibly diaspro tenero di Sicilia - as well as
alabasters, including pecorella.
This repeating ornament frames a large rectangle, featuring curvilinear
“strapwork” in giallo antico with accents in rosso antico, alabastro fiorito,
and a white stone with diffuse red veining which is, so far, unidentified.
The strapwork outlines sections of africano marble, and four ovals in
alabastro fiorito, and surrounds a field of verde antico, which further
frames a thin oval band of nero antico. Inside this is the table’s
center-piece, a semi-transparent/translucent oval of antique Egyptian
alabaster, perhaps alabastro cotognini.
The underside of the table is a single stone slab of peperino, running to
the edge of the molded band of giallo e nero antico. This slab, though
antique, may postdate the marble inlay work.
The effect, of course is very, very grand.
Provocatively, our table is remarkably similar to one now in Florence’s
Villa del Poggio Imperiale, and before that, in the city’s Palazzo Pitti,
both places with intimate connections to Ferdinando de Medici.
Opposite above - Similar tabltetop currently in the Villa del Poggio Imperiale,
Florence.
Opposite below - Similar tabletop, on a later base, in Il Perestilio, Villa del
Poggio Imperiale