An Octagonal Pietre Dure and Marble Tabletop Depicting Masonic Symbols

July 21 2009, 2:06pm

This extraordinary pietre dure and marble top is set with rare stones depicting symbols and images significant to the secret cult of Freemasonry, “an Anglo-Saxon creation first transplanted to Florence in 1733… The Masonic principles of nonsectarianism and abstract belief in a “Great Architect of the Universe” were viewed as an intolerable threat by Pope Clement XII, who issued the first papal edict that ordered excommunication of any Catholics who became Masons.” At the time at which this piece was made, Italian Freemasons were particularly concerned with the ideals of Liberty, and played an active role in progressing the country’s struggle for unification and for freedom from both foreign and papal domination.