Carlo Bugatti

CARLO BUGATTI (Milan, Italy, 1856-1940, Molsheim, France).
Cabinet, ca. 1900.
Walnut wood, marquetry in brass, pewter, bone and various stained woods. The lower part of the cabinet with arches and columns clad in copper plate, the upper part with two doors and arches and balustrade. Decoration of reliefs in copper sheet cut out.
Orientalist paintings presumably by the Italian painter Riccardo Pellegrini (1863-1934).
It is in good general condition with signs of age and wear. The paint is worn in places. Some inlays and small blocks are missing and the parchment is a little unpicked in places.
Measurements: 166 x 75 x 39 cm.

Important cabinet made by the Italian artist and designer Carlo Bugatti around 1900 fusing Moorish, medieval, Byzantine and even Japanese elements in an eclectic way. In 1900, Bugatti's most creative and exotic production came at the request of a demanding clientele that loved the new turn-of-the-century taste, this piece being a faithful example of that.

Thus, this cabinet design divided into two bodies is a clear example of the "Bugatti style", where the orientalist taste enriches the whole piece. The lower body is made up of two shelves whose upper section is opened by an arcade with an Arabic horseshoe arch. Four turned legs with richly decorated copper plates support the structure. The upper body, defined by a large Moorish arcade, has the doors and side walls covered with parchment and painted. The central panels of the doors show a splendid painting of an oriental knight carrying a weapon and an oriental woman with a musical instrument. In addition, there are reed leaves in Japanese style, arabesque characters and a censer. From their stylistic characteristics we can deduce that they were most probably executed by the Italian painter Riccardo Pellegrini. The Arabic arches of the doors are veneered with elaborately chiseled copper plates. The finials are constructed from friezes of wood blocks stained in alternating dark and reddish tones. The goldsmith work done on the copper plates deserves special attention, as each of them contains a different ornamental treatment, both in the centers of the horseshoe arches and those that decorate the inside of each of the doors of the central body.

Carlo Bugatti, from a young age, showed his creative and artistic gifts, so he was enrolled by his father at the Brera Academy, where he met the artist Giovanni Segantini, and later attended l'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 on Via San Marco in Milan. From 1888 onwards, there is evidence of a Bugatti workshop in Via Castelfidardo 6, Milan. That 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 skin. These creations were especially appreciated and harmonized well with the exotic and Moorish taste typical of the time. As early as 1890, the famous cabinetmaker had already 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 foundryman Adrien A. Hèbrard (1865-1937), who convinced him to devote himself to sculpture, commissioning objects and ornaments, including a fantastic bestiary that 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.