The attribution history of a marble table top from the Polytechnic Museum collection

The article presents the results of researches to specify the attribution of a table top from the Polytechnic Museum. In 2014 the exhibition "Creations of Nature in the Master's hands", joint project of Vernadsky State Geological Museum RAS and the Polytechnic Museum, was opened. It was based on the collection of stone-cutting works of art from the Polytechnic Museum; minerals and rocks selected by Master to realize his concept were chosen in the collections of Geological Museum. A table top made using the Florentine mosaic technique came to the central exhibit. Its museum registration form includes a note that the table top was produced at the Petergof Lapidary Works mostly from Russian rocks in the second half of the 19^th century under master I.V. Sokolov. Those data defined both a list of stone material and subject-matter of accompanying texts. In the collections of Geological Museum, similar rocks were not found among samples of carbonatic rocks from Russian deposits. In the monograph by N.M. Mavrodina, including information on the history of the Petergof Lapidary Works, masters, and a catalogue of all objects produced during the Works existence, there is no record about such table top manufactured in the time indicated in the registration form. The time and authorship were defined based on "Essays on the history of stone" by A.E.Fersman, where a photo of similar table top from the Hermitage collections is shown in a part devoted to objects produced at the Petergof Lapidary Works in the second half of the 19^th century on Page 127, Volume 2. According to N.M.Mavrodina's opinion, who kept and researched the Hermitage collection of Russian stone-cutting objects for a long time, the table top published in the Fersman's book is from Europe. The analysis of literature, consultations with Russian and foreign colleagues, and introduction to Russian and foreign collections allowed the author to ascertain that the table top from the Polytechnic Museum was manufactured in Rome, Italy in 1840-s by master Alfonso Cavamelli, which works have been unknown to Russians. Similar table tops are kept in museum collections of Russia, Italy, and Great Britain, they are consistently put up to International auctions. Table tops vary in size, in number and shape of mosaic insets, and in a topic in the central part, but they invariably include fragments of three rocks that allow experts accurately determine their Italian origin.

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