Ori, argenti, gemme
Restauri dell’Opificio delle Pietre Dure

edited by C. Innocenti
with a preface by C. Acidini

exhibition catalogue: Florence, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, 29 September 2007-8 January 2008

The Opificio delle Pietre Dure has restored 15 masterpieces of exceptional artistic significance that differ enormously in type, period and provenance. Assembled in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi from 30 September 2007 to 8 January 2008, they illustrate the complexity and variety of the operations conducted by the laboratories of the Florentine institute. The exhibition showcases works spanning five centuries, such as a splendid Romanesque silver altarpiece from Modena and exquisite sacred furnishings made in Tuscany between the 13th and the 17th centuries. The latter include important loans from the Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, such as the priceless 14th-century Reliquary of the Libretto, which reached Italy following an eventful journey, parts of the famous silver Altar of San Giovanni, which took over a century to complete—from 1366 to 1483—and involved generations of Florentine sculptors and goldsmiths of the calibre of Antonio del Pollaiolo and Andrea del Verrocchio, and Antonio di Salvi Salvucci’s Reliquary of St Jerome. The 14th-century cross by Masio di Ciccarello is from the Marche region, and Sicily is represented by the splendour of its renowned 17th-century goldwork. Three marvellous examples of the island’s extravaganza of gold, stones and enamels are on display. The Pelican Feeding Its Young and the Crown of the Virgin of the Visitation are from Enna, and the Monstrance of St Ignatius Martyr, better known as the Golden Sphere, from Palermo is an extraordinary reconstruction assembled from countless fragments using the innovative laser welding technique.