PAIR OF POLYCHROME MARBLE PLAQUES, FLORENCE, LATE 18TH CENTURY depicting a gentleman and lady in period dress on a black background and paesina stone, gilded wooden frames of the same period; minor defects, a few scratches, stains, the frames with gilding falls One with paper inventory label on verso Cm 15X10,8 Frames, cm 21.3X16.8 PAIR OF POLYCHROME MARBLE PLAQUE, FLORENCE, LATE 18TH CENTURY; MINOR DEFECTS, FEW SCRATCHES, STAINS, FRAMES WITH LOSS OF GILDING (2) These two elegant plaques are to be related to a series of tablets attributed to craftsmen working for the Galleria dei Lavori in Florence in the second half of the 18th century. Several of them are known, some of which also adorn cabinets and furniture, but only one is signed by Nicolò Merlini, active between 1754 and 1791. Among the others are two already in a Christie's sale (London December 1997), two in Groussay Castle, a series in the British royal collections and at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, others at the Getty in Malibu and those kept at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence. But two in particular, now in the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan (Madrid), depict, albeit with a slightly variegated background, the figures also present in ours (A. Gonzàlez-Palacios, Painting for Eternity. Le collezioni reali spagnole di mosaici e pietre dure, Madrid 2023, pp. 266; 268).