CARLO BUGATTI (Milan, Italy, 1856-1940, Molsheim, France).
Cabinet, ca. 1900.
In ebonised walnut wood, inlaid with pewter, copper and vellum.
Signed.
There are slight cracks at some angles, as well as wear due to time and use.
This piece is in Italy and is awaiting an export permit.
It has small cracks in the corners.
Measurements: 80 x 80 x 100 cm.
Important and rare cabinet made by the Italian artist and designer Carlo Bugatti in the early 1900s. Bugatti's most creative and exotic production was made at the request of a demanding clientele who loved the new taste of the turn of the century, and this piece is a faithful example of this.
The curious structure of the present object shows a central body in the shape of a cross in which eight small doors are housed and which communicate with each other on the inside. The frame is supported by four points of support in the form of horseshoe arches which, in turn, culminate on three small columns. The upper part, meanwhile, is made up of another body in the shape of a cross, this time rotating, from which drawers emerge at each end.
This piece of design is a clear example of the "Bugatti style", where the orientalist taste enriches the whole piece. From the small columns whose shafts are decorated with copper sheets embossed with natural motifs, to the arches, which feature subtle pewter birds, as well as the kufic motifs that accompany them.
In addition, the goldsmith's work on the copper plates deserves special attention, as each of them contains a different ornamental treatment, both in the centres of the horseshoe arches and those that decorate the inside of each of the doors of the central body.
Finally, the mobile part, which crowns the entire structure, is finely enriched by arcades that are always decorated by means of the handcrafted process of inlaying, from which birds, kufic script and vegetal elements continue to emerge.
This cabinet represents one of the most exquisite and rare works of the Italian designer's production.
Carlo Bugatti showed his creative and artistic talents from an early age and was enrolled by his father at the Brera Academy, where he met the artist Giovanni Segantini, and subsequently attended the Ecole de Beax-Arts in Paris. Later, in the late 1970s, Bugatti worked for the cabinetmaker Mentasti, owner of the Piccolo Stabilimento di Lavorazione del Legno in Via San Marco, Milan.
From 1888 onwards, there is evidence of a Bugatti workshop in Via Castelfidardo 6, Milan. In the same year, Carlo established himself as a cabinetmaker at the Italian Exhibition in London. His furniture is unique, using precious woods as well as ivory, copper, mother-of-pearl, camel and fallow deer hide. These creations were particularly appreciated and harmonised well with the exotic and Moorish taste typical of the time. As early as 1890, the famous cabinetmaker had opened a studio-workshop in Paris, where, at the Universal Exhibition of 1900, his furniture was awarded prizes marking the international triumph of Art Nouveau.
Settling in Paris in 1903, he met the art dealer and founder Adrien A. Hèbrard (1865-1937), who persuaded him to devote himself to sculpture, commissioning objects and ornaments from him, including a fantastic bestiary which Hèbrard exhibited in his gallery in 1907. After leaving Paris in 1910, Bugatti moved to Pierrerfonds in the Oise, where he became mayor. The last years of his life were marked by dramatic events, such as the suicide of his son Rembrandt in 1916, the death of his daughter Deanice and finally that of his wife Therese. In 1935 he decided to move to Alsace, to Molsheim, where his son Ettore had opened the famous Bugatti car factory, and where he died in April 1940.