An attractive Arte Povera box with yellow background containing 4 token boxes, late 18th century.

Arte Povera is an inexpensive decorative technique imitating 18th-century lacquer. It involves cutting out existing decorations from a sheet of paper and gluing them onto the surface to be decorated. The composition is then covered with numerous layers of varnish to ensure its solidity.

As its name suggests, arte povera has the advantage of being less expensive, and allows the craftsman to decorate his creations without any knowledge of painting.