Countess by birth, heiress by adolescence, Marchesa by marriage, and mesmerizing by all accounts.
Born into centuries-old traditions of tiaras and lace, Luisa Casati traded marriage for a life of art—a poetic love affair that would blossom into a bohemian whirlwind, tantalizing and scandalizing her cohort. Trembling drawings and grainy images at the hands of Cocteau, Man Ray and Cecil Beaton depict her metamorphosis from soft belle to surrealist being. Haunted eyes multiplied and manipulated behind fragile veils and frantic gestures. She incarnated their fictions, even as her truths were far, far stranger. The Marchesa required freedom from the corsets and confines of her rarefied class, her Gilded Age, her fair gender. And so, she wandered the moonlit labyrinths of Venice accompanied by jungle cats, naked but for her furs.
Deploying her beauty and fortune like cannon fire, she besieged the ramparts of aristocratic propriety and bourgeois convention till there was nothing left... but the legend of a woman.
A vision towering Giacometti-like over masked galas on the Grand Canal.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Dot by dot, this panther appeared under our artisan’s hand to be illuminated by emerald flickers. Only after following a 32-step process employed by Vietnamese lacquer makers since antiquity—applying fine extracts of which the Marchesa would certainly approve—did the glossy heft of this limited-edition lacquer decorative tray capture our hands and our dazzled gaze.
Each of the lacquer decorative trays comes with a certificate of authenticity indicating their serial number. This edition has only 40 pieces.
Lacquer decorative tray dimensions: 45cm * 71cm
Care instructions: Keep away from sunlight, heat, and metal or sharp objects. Clean with warm water and a soft cloth.
