CARLO BUGATTI
CHAIR, c. 1910
Chair with a tall asymmetrical back, the two-tone walnut (Juglans regia) structure richly inlaid with tin, copper and brass, and embellished with bovine bone and leather elements (Bos taurus) and applied repoussé copper motifs. Silk passementerie. The seat and backrest retain their original sheep parchment (Ovis aries) upholstery.
The parchment backrest is painted on the reverse with bamboo branches and on the front with a marsh scene depicting a frog on a water lily among aquatic plants. The parchment seat is decorated with an inscription accompanied by motifs of birds and flowers.
The parchment backrest is painted on the reverse with bamboo branches and on the front with a marsh scene depicting a frog on a water lily among aquatic plants. The parchment seat is decorated with an inscription accompanied by motifs of birds and flowers.
Overall dimensions:
H 170 - W 38,5 - D 40 cm.
H 66 7/8 - W 15 1/8 - D 15 3/4 in.
H 170 - W 38,5 - D 40 cm.
H 66 7/8 - W 15 1/8 - D 15 3/4 in.
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This chair exemplifies the remarkably distinctive language developed by Carlo Bugatti at the turn of the twentieth century. Its slender, deliberately asymmetrical silhouette combines an architectural construction with a rich decorative vocabulary in which wood, pewter, copper, bone, parchment and silk passementerie interact.
Drawing freely on Eastern and Japanese-inspired sources, Bugatti created an object of striking originality, poised between furniture and sculpture. The painted parchment, populated with bamboo, birds, flowers and a frog among aquatic plants, further enhances the precious and imaginative character of the work.