Carved by Nicola and Pietro Fiore

Painted and gilded by Antonio Pittarelli

Painted and gilded wood Provenance: made for the Bourbons, from the Reggio di Caserta, near Naples; Professor Abbott, Rome (first director of the American Academy in Rome); Professor Cesare Tumedei, Villa Lontana, Rome

Comparative literature: A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Civilita del '700 a Napoli, Naples, 1981, vol. II, pp. 205, 207, 210-212, figs. 448, 451, 457-458).

The project to design and furnish the royal apartments at the Palazzo Reale at Caserta, near Naples, marked an important chapter in the history of eighteenth and nineteenth century Neapolitan furniture. The suites of furniture in the neoclassical style provide incomparable examples of products turned out by Neapolitan workshops of the period. To harmonize with the pastel stucco of the walls and the classically inspired decorative motifs, craftsmen built finely carved and painted console and center tables, sofas and chairs painted in ivory white with polychrome decoration of neoclassical or naturalistic motifs.