BINDING FORGERY - JONI, Federico Icilio (1866-1946). Binding forgery. [Siena: late 19th-century]. Tempera and mineral paint on wood with tooled gilding. 20,5x29 cm each. Two wooden book covers in the style of so-called “Tavolette della Biccherna”, the elaborately decorated fourteenth-century covers of the medieval account books in the treasury of Siena. Joined by a leather spine (rubbed), front cover with the portrait of a lady in profile against a Tuscan landscape background (resembling the Florentine noblewoman Giovanna Tornabuoni, depicted by Domenico Ghirlandaio and others), the rear cover with a coat of arms reading “libertas”; punched decorations and four bosses on each cover (painting slightly faded, lacking one boss on rear cover; one panel laid down on later board). Joni was a notorious artist from Siena who specialised in producing imitations of ancient paintings (especially from the Sienese School) and of the “Biccherne”. He sold his copies as original to worldwide collectors, such as Bernard Berenson, later admitting to having produced them himself (Le Memorie di un Pittore di Quadri Antichi, 1932). Many pieces recently appeared at auction. References: M. Foot, A Pair of Book covers of the late 19th Century by I. F. Joni in: Studies in the History of Bookbinding, 1993, pp. 296-97. UNRECORDED.