The Embriachi were carvers from the late 14th century and the first half of the 15th century who were active in Venice, although they probably originated in Genoa.
They produced triptychs, polyptychs, caskets of various sizes, also wedding caskets, frames and combs with handles. The small caskets were wooden. They were inlaid with ivory panels and decorations, sometimes these were also made of horse or cattle bones, mother of pearl or varicoloured wood. The panels and bone ornaments were called alla certosina, in the Carthusian manner. Among the best of these works is the triptych of the Charterhouse in Pavia from the early 15th century which was created by Baldassare (Baldassare di Simone d’Aliotto degli Embriachi).
The Embriachi often used a Florentine lily as the mark of their studio.
The bone relief panels show religious scenes, stories of antiquity, novellas, romances and legends. Iconographically the stories are often based on French and German models, but they were often adapted, also as regards their style, which was Giottoesque, Venetian, Lombard or Paduan.
The works of the Embriachi are to be found in museums in Europe and elsewhere. The altar from the abbey of Poissy, which is today in the Louvre, is one of their best known works.
Lit.: Julius von Schlosser, Die Werkstatt der Embriachi in Venedig, Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, Vol. 20, Wien 1899, pp. 220-282; Luigi Mallé: Smalti-Avori del Museo d Árte Antica, Museo Civico di Torino, Torino 1969; Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery, New York-Baltimore 1985 (Richard H. Randall et al..); Elena Merfini, La "Bottega degli Embriachi" e i cofanetti eburni fra Trecento e Quattrocento: Una proposta di classificazione, Arte Cristiana, 727, LXXVI, Vol. 7-8, 1988, pp. 267-282; Elena Merlini, I trittici portatili della "Bottega degli Embriachi", Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 33, 1991, pp. 47-62; Adolfo Marciano (avtor članka), Ludovico Savioli e gli "avorj dei bassi tempi", Arte a Bologna: Bollettino dei musei civici d'arte antica, 2, Bologna 1992, pp. 187-201.