Two rare inlaid panels with views of Rome
Engraved, stained, and gouached maple, burr maple, plum, cherry, and various fruitwood inlays on softwood, ebonised and gilt softwood, cast iron mountings. On panel with the view "Prospectus Columnae Traiani Imp.", the second "Prospectus Comumnae Antonini Pii Imp." The flying putto with standards is seen in the view of Trajan's column in the printed prototype, but here it is depicted in the view of the Antonius Pius column. One panel with a hand-written label of the producer Franz Riemb or Kientz and "chur: Tro:" (indistinct). Printed merchants label "Silvio Ferrara Antiquario-Gioielliere Via Condotti Roma No 6". Minor earlier insect damage, shrinkage cracks. H 55.8, W 66.5 cm.
South German or Tyrolese artist, after Matteo Gregorio de' Rossi, mid-18th C.
Literature
The prints upon which the designs of these panels are based can be viewed on the website of the British Museum under the inv. no. 1950,0211.27. The sheet by Matteo Gregorio de´ Rossi was purchased in 1950 as part of a large assortment of 250 Italian prints from the collection of the Grand Duke of Liechtenstein. The views entitled "Prospectus locorum urbis Romae" were first published in 1666 and published again in a slightly amended version in 1692.
A set of six comparable panels with the same signature (read as Kientz) formerly in the collection of Sigmaringen Palace published in Carlton Hobbs, with views of Schleissheim Palace, Nymphenburg Palace, Mering Palace, and Lichtenburg Palace. The unidentified artist was also active in Bavaria and Rome.
A known and published panel with an inlaid bird’s eye view of Schloss Mannheim in Germany is housed in the Reiss-Museum in Mannheim, inv. no. A 167a (in: Stratmann-Döhler/Wiese, Möbel für den Fürstenhof, Sigmaringen 1994, illus. 3).