Two bevel-edged wooden boards joined by a leather spine, the upper board with a central metal relief panel, depicting the Virgin Mary holding a book, a halo around her head, standing on a gilt tiled floor, within a niche with decorative background patterned in blue, yellow, white, green and gold, the panel set within a relief sectional border of gilt scrolling foliate and floral decoration on a dark blue ground, each corner with a decorative metal boss on a red ground, decorative gilt borders to each section, the lower board with matching borders and bosses, the central design depicting Saint Macarius holding a sword, a halo around his head, standing on a red and white patterned floor, within a niche with decorative gilt background, some flaking and chipping, particularly at the edges (some of which may have been by Joni who was in the habit of distressing his bindings), central portion of spine leather rubbed with a couple of tears and small losses, versos of boards with some wormholes, 455 x 680 mm, displayed in a period wooden case, with glazed doors and hanging chain (535 x 760 mm).
These panels are late-19th-century forgeries by Ilicio Federico Joni of so-called Sienese Tavolette di Biccherna, which were produced for accounts from the 13th to the 17th century. Joni layered these wooden panels with plaster and painted them with tempera to imitate fifteenth-century bindings.
Known as the ‘prince’ of Sienese forgers, Icilio Joni began work in a gilding workshop in Siena as a young man. He started a side business of restoration, which quickly also extended to forgeries, finding the market for these items in Italy. Using tempera and gold on panels, Joni mostly forged panel paintings, triptychs, and wooden caskets, claiming them as fifteenth- or sixteenth-century originals. After reading about the highly decorated Tavolette di Biccherna book covers he started to produce his own. While he sold a number of his imitations as medieval and Renaissance originals, he openly described his forgery work in his autobiography (Le Memorie di un pittore di Quadri Antichi, 1932, English trans. 1936).
Joni bindings — undetected — have graced some of the greatest book collections, including those of Hoe and Wilmerding. Even recognised as imitations, they had great cachet, as the commission by Lady Wantage for a binding in 1904 demonstrates. At least 14 examples of Joni’s work are recorded and more are in circulation.
[H.M. Nixon, ‘Binding Forgeries,’ Transactions of the VIth International Congress of Bibliophiles, 1969, Vienna, 1971, pp. 69-83; and M. Foot, ‘A Pair of Bookcovers of the late 19th Century by I.F. Joni, The Book Collector, 1985, pp. 488-489.]
