Furniture decoration workshop

This ancient technique was introduced by the Embassy of Sion at the court of the Sun King during the early seventeenth century by way of the gifts for the court.

Since that time huge sums have been spent on recreating an Oriental atmosphere in all the courts of Europe, from Versailles to Monaco and Turin and so on.

The cost of importing such furniture from China pushed European manufacturers to attempt to imitate the lacquer used for similar decorations. However, it was in Venice that lacquer work became very fashionable so much so that it became a sign of the times and a way of life; the Figurative and Floral style developed alongside the Chinese style. The so called "poor art" belonged to the Figurative genre: figurines cut out of moulds, framed with hand-traced decorations applied on wooden surfaces. In the mid-eighteenth century the "floral" genre was at its height: a wealth of flowers, wreaths, leaves, bows and ribbons.