Icilio Federico Joni 1866-1946. Tavolette Book Cover Sienese Biccherna. Framed.

Icilio Federico Joni.
Italian ( b.1866 - d.1946 ).
Painted Gesso, Gilt and Wood Tavolette Book Cover Binding in the Sienese Biccherna Style
Book Cover size 11 inches x 8.1 inches ( 28cm x 20.5cm ).
Frame size 16 inches x 13 inches ( 40.5cm x 33cm ).

Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this painted gesso and gilt “tavolette” wooden book cover in the Biccherna style is by Icilio Federico Joni.
The book cover is mounted and supplied in a contemporary black Tulip Wood frame (which is shown in these photographs) which is glazed with non-reflective Tru Vue UltraVue® UV70 glass. The wooden book cover is curved and float mounted giving a wonderful 3D depth to its presentation.
The gesso and painted surfaces have benefitted from professional restoration which was performed on our instruction, supervision and approval. 
This antique book cover is now in very good condition, commensurate with its age. 
The frame presentation is new and in excellent condition. Combined, it wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.

Icilio Federcio Joni was one of a group of artists living and working in Sienna around the turn of the 19th to 20thcentury who specialised in reproducing works by past Italian masters. He became acknowledged as the “Prince of Forgers” and specialised in creating reproductions of the book bindings known as Tavolette di Biccherna. These had been used to decorate the city’s taxation and banking records in the 13th to 17thcenturies. 

Joni himself was a flamboyant character, knew many important people and was friends with leading historians of his day, such as Bernard Berenson. He was an undeniably talented painter, gilder and restorer and possessed extraordinary mimetic qualities. He also had several mistresses, produced pageants, played the mandolin and used his studio, where he kept falcons, as a gymnasium! He published an autobiography of his life in 1932, which translated as “Memories of an Antique Picture Painter” and caused quite a stir among those art dealers who had traded in his works as originals.

These reproductions of much older works, now acknowledged as such, are today valued in their own right and have become collector’s pieces.

© Big Sky Fine Art

This artwork we are now offering for sale is a wooden panel, originally forming the binding cover of a book and was produced by the most famous Italian ‘forger’ Icilio Federico Joni. The panel is created in the image of those produced in Siena in the 13th to 17th centuries and known as Tavolette di Biccherna. 

This slightly arched wooden cover has central heraldic shield within a circle on a background of intricate floral and scrolling decoration. All around the edges of the central panel are wide gilded panels which are themselves richly decorated and form an arabesque frame. In each corner there is a hemispherical brass boss. This piece is coloured entirely gold and a very dark navy. The whole piece has been professionally restored and is in excellent condition, quite stunning. It is mounted within a modern box frame behind museum quality non-reflective glass in a way which perfectly displays its three-dimensional qualities. 

For a full biography of this artist please see his listing on www.bigskyfineart.com .

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