Carlo BUGATTI (1856-1940) & Riccardo PELLEGRINI... Lot n° 25

Cabinet in natural wood and blackened wood inlaid with pewter, copper and bone and partially covered with painted parchment. The upper part features a columned arcature flanked by two doors depicting oriental-style playlets featuring figures on carpets under flowering branches, topped by a spinning top arcature. The copper colonnade base features a crotch tray and a pewter-rimmed locker. Circa 1902 H: 165 cm W: 75 cm D: 38.5 cm (Wear) Bibliography: - "Carlo Bugatti", for a variant of similar form and decoration reproduced p.85 - Carlo Bugatti au musée d'Orsay, Catalogue illustré du fond d'archives et des collections", published by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris 2001. A similar model is reproduced on pages 85 under reference 7.34 and 86 under reference 7.44. Our piece of furniture is one of the few made in collaboration with Ricardo PELLEGRINI. An Italian Orientalist painter, PELLEGRINI had a long collaboration with Carlo BUGATTI. He incorporated paintings with exotic subjects into his furniture. In return, the cabinetmaker would custom-make precious frames for the painter. Exhib. cat. Die Bugattis, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg 1983, p.56, C6 CARLO BUGATTI A draughtsman, cabinetmaker, decorator and architect, Carlo Bugatti, father of the great sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti, was born in Milan in 1856 to a sculptor father who taught him the rudiments of art, which the young man completed in 1875 at the Brera Academy, then at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1870, and finally by studying cabinetmaking with Mentasti before opening his own workshop around 1880. He is considered one of the representatives of European Art Nouveau, or "Liberty style" in Italy. The artist always followed his own visions and ideas, both plastic and formal, which are so atypical that they are immediately recognizable. Carlo Bugatti achieved his first successes at the 1888 Italian Fine Arts Exhibition in London. In the same years, he won a silver medal at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition and a grand jury prize at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin. At the turn of the century, Bugatti's work became simpler, and the influence of Art Nouveau was felt in his many creations. At the same time, Bugatti left Milan to set up his workshop in Paris, where he became more interested in sculpture and, above all, goldsmithing. In 1910, Bugatti moved to Pierrefonds in the Oise region and became mayor of Pierrefonds during the First World War. Carlo Bugatti died in 1940 at the Château de Dorlisheim in Alsace, the home of his son Ettore, the great carmaker. From the very start of his production, Carlo Bugatti integrated decor and painting into his creations. Two repertoires follow one another in Carlo Bugatti's work. The first is characteristic of his work. It's a geometric approach, mainly represented by a Moorish style with arcatures, circles with embossed copper medallions and wood and/or mother-of-pearl inlays. The second repertoire is more naturalistic, drawing inspiration from the plant world such as plants and insects. This piece of furniture is a synthesis of his work. The palette of his repertoires can be found in the sculpted and inlaid decor and in the paintings that adorn the parchment. These multiple sources of inspiration enable him to build a unique style, full of fantasy, freedom and imagination.