This pietra dura panel by American artist Richard Blow (1904-1983) depicts a symmetrical arrangement of five shamrocks or four-leaf clovers, each articulated in a distinct selection of variegated green stone, the largest centrally placed clover in heavily striated malachite, against a dark gray background.
Blow was an instrumental figure in reviving the Florentine tradition of pietra dura, or stone intarsia, a highly specialized stoneworking technique dating back to before the Renaissance. Following WWII, Blow traveled to Montici, Italy and set up a workshop where he collaborated with the finest Italian craftspeople to produce intriguing works in stone mosaic in a modernist style.
This rare example of Blow’s work, in its original frame, is signed on the reverse.
Height: 7 inches (17.8 cm)
Width: 7 ¾ inches (17.8 cm)