What is pietra-dura?
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Answers
Pietra dura is an Italian phrase, and literally means ‘hard stone’. It is sometimes referred to by the plural pietre dure, or ‘hard stones’, and very occasionally it’s known in English as ‘Florentine mosaic’.
It refers, however, to a technique of inlaying differently-shaped and coloured stones onto a backing.
In India – another place where the technique was popular, as we will see – the technique is known as parchin kari.
Confusingly, in Italy the technique is also called commesso, meaning ‘fitted together’: the ‘pietre dure’ simply refer to the stones used in the technique.
The technique and effect of pietra dura is similar to that of marquetry in woodwork: they are both inlay techniques. Where marquetry involves the inlay of cut pieces of wood and other materials onto a veneer, pietra dura involves the inlay of stones.
As well as marquetry, pietra dura has been compared to sculpture, in the sense of it being a method of cutting stones; and as a form of lapidary work, pietra dura can also be considered part of the jeweller’s craft.
Additionally, in the sense of being a method of inlaying stone tiles, pietra dura is also similar to the older technique of mosaic.
It differs, however, from mosaic-work in that, while mosaic tiles are roughly the same size and shape – and the image emerges through the arrangement of different coloured tiles – in pietra dura the tiles are cut according to which part of the image they make up.