Grand Tour specimen-stone paperweight

A Grand Tour specimen-stone paperweight, Italian, circa 1870, the rectangular black-stone body set with an abstract geometric mosaic composed of a notably diverse suite of hardstones, each finely hand-cut and inlaid.

The panel includes coquina jasper (with its distinctive fossiliferous yellow and brown “calligraphy” pattern), rosso Verona, Giallo Siena, Pietra di Vicenza, verde di Corsica, Breccia Pernice, brown breccia medicea, a fragment of sodalite-bearing granite with characteristic blue sodalite crystals in a grey feldspar matrix, together with a piece of deep green stabilised jasper typical of late 19th-century Florentine and Roman workshop production.

A decorative and well-preserved example of its type, with a particularly rich and uncommon selection of materials.

Dimensions: 13 × 8 cm.