Finely decorated with multi-coloured flowers, insects and leaves, this rare and unique pair of baluster-shaped wooden vases – with ovoid body and scalloped-edge – belongs to a category of objects and furniture traditionally catalogued by means of the term arte povera.
Arte povera, basically an equivalent variation of lacca povera (poor man’s lacquer), refers to a well-known decorative technique introduced in Venice during the 18th century, whereby sheets of engravings – often with Oriental subject (chinoiserie) – were coloured, cut-out and pasted onto furniture or objects and then covered with multiple coats of a varnish called sandracca (a natural resin) in order to produce a high-gloss finish very similar to a ‘lacquer’.
This Venetian technique – which became immediately fashionable and was therefore readily appreciated and imitated in different Italian contexts as well as in many parts of Europe – was initially used to decorate only works in wood, but later also applied to glass and metal artifacts.

Beyond their actual uniqueness, these two very beautiful vases are particularly interesting and outstanding because of the wonderful flowers adorning their surfaces. These are not merely cut-out from paper, but from specific Genoese textiles called mezzari.
From the early 13th century on, the term mezzaro indicates in Genoa – as well as in Corsica and Sardinia – a particular kind of cloth. This term co

mes from the arabic word mi’zar, ‘veil’ or ‘cloak’.

Women used this cloth either to cover their heads or for home furnishings: in both cases, it was a part of the bridal kit.

More precisely, since 1750 the word mezzaro is used to indicate a flowered cloth, linen or cotton, printed with particularly vibrant colors. These were intended as an imitation of the Indian textiles imported by the Genoese already centuries before.

The wonderful naturalistic flowers, leaves and insects ornaments adorning the present vases were most certainly cut out from those rich textiles which the Genoese upper classes used to hand down from generation to generation.

PAIR OF VASES
Wood decorated with arte povera technique
Northern Italy (Piedmont)
Second half 18th century
Cm 27 x 47 h