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''Pastiglia'' (:paˈstiʎʎa), an Italian term meaning "pastework", is low relief decoration, normally modelled in gesso or white lead, applied to build up a surface that may then be gilded or painted, or left plain. The technique was used in a variety of ways in Italy during the Renaissance. The term is mostly found in English applied to gilded work on picture frames or small pieces of furniture such as wooden caskets and cassoni, and also on areas of panel paintings,〔(National Gallery glossary ); the term is sometimes italicized in English, and sometimes not, though in "white lead pastiglia" more often not.〕 but there is some divergence as to the meaning of the term between these specialisms. On frames and furniture the technique is in origin a cheaper imitation of woodcarving, metalwork or ivory carving techniques. Within paintings, the technique gives areas with a three-dimensional effect, usually those representing inanimate objects, such as foliage decoration on architectural surrounds, halos and details of dress, rather than parts of figures. In white lead pastiglia on caskets, the subject matter is usually classical, with a special emphasis on stories from Ancient Roman history. ==White lead pastiglia== In reference to work on picture frames and paintings moulded and gilded gesso is still commonly described as ''pastiglia'',〔For example: Cohen, 183, (here ) and by the National Gallery〕 but in recent decades writers on furniture and the decorative arts tend to distinguish between this and "true" ''pastiglia'', or white lead pastiglia〔De Winter and Manni led the new distinction. Campbell's contributors for "Cassone" and "Pastiglia" use different definitions, the latter saying (p.194) "Cassone" decoration, described from the late 19th century onwards as pastiglia, is in fact gilt gesso. Pastiglia would be too small and fragile for a large ''cassone''".〕 which is defined as being made from white lead powder, made by combining powdered lead and vinegar in an anaerobic environment, bound with egg white. White lead bound with oil or egg yolk was also the most common pigment for white paint. White lead pastiglia is very delicate and used for small areas only, but can produce very fine detail. It was mainly used on small caskets and boxes. Sections were typically pre-moulded, doubtless from metal matrices to judge from the crisp detail,〔John Fleming and Hugh Honour, ''Dictionary of the Decorative Arts'', ''s.v.'' "Pastiglia".〕 and glued on when hard. This was usually left unpainted, when it looked like carved ivory, which had been widely used to decorate boxes in Italy, by the Embriachi and others, but was by now less used, partly because it was too rare and expensive. The wood from which the main box was made was normally alder. It seems the term ''pastiglia'' for this only dates to the 17th century, after the technique had largely fallen from use. A scented variant called ''pasta di muschio'' ("musk paste") mixed musk perfume with the white lead, and was thought to be "aphrodisiacal", and so used for caskets given at a marriage,〔(Metropolitan Museum casket ); they seem to say the casket is made with both gesso and white lead paste.〕 and also other objects such as inkwells and frames for hand mirrors.〔Thornton, 109〕 White lead ''pastiglia'' was a north Italian speciality, produced between about 1450 and 1550. Six workshops were identified by Patrick M. De Winter, although their location remains uncertain; the Workshop of the Love and Moral Themes, whose products seem the most numerous, was possibly at Ferrara,〔Campbell, 194, citing Manni〕 where the painter Cosimo Tura began his career gilding caskets.〔Thornton, 109〕 Venice is also thought to have produced them. Other workshops identified by De Winter include the "Workshop of the main Berlin casket" and "Workshop of the Cleveland Casket".〔Sotheby's; (the Cleveland Casket )〕 The subjects were typically classical, drawn from both mythology and Ancient Roman history (especially the early period covered by Livy), but biblical ones are also found. Compositions can often be shown to be borrowed from another medium, such as prints or bronze plaquettes,〔Bull, 39; see for example the British Museum page on their box illustrated here, where one element is copied from a bronze; Campbell, 194〕 and sections from the same mould can be found repeated, and used on more than one piece. The Victoria and Albert Museum has an armorial casket which is the only example that can be fairly closely dated, using the career of its owner, Cardinal Bernardo Clesio, as it must date to between his elevation as cardinal in 1530 and his resignation as Prince-bishop of Trent in 1538.〔(V&A Museum )〕 De Winter catalogued 115 white lead pastiglia caskets, only 10 of which were over 20 cm high or deep. Another of this relatively large type was sold at auction in 2010.〔Sotheby's London, 7 December 2010, Sale L10233, Lot 31, sold for £163,250 inc. premium, (Sale catalogue online ). This price was exceptional; compare (this lot at Christie's in 2006 )〕 Despite usually having locks, their thin alderwood frame meant that the caskets were probably too fragile to be used for really valuable items like jewellery, and they are thought to have been used for a variety of small objects including cosmetics and collections of seals, coins and the like. In 2002, the Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables, Miami held an exhibition of ''Pastiglia Boxes: Hidden Treasures of the Italian Renaissance'' from the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d'arte antica in Rome, and an 80-page exhibition catalogue was published in English and Italian.〔See further reading〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pastiglia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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