Piero Fornasetti (Italian, 1913-1988): an early printed lacquer and tole "Architettura" trumeauCollaborating with Gio Ponti, Italy, circa 1959
£20,000 - £30,000
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Piero Fornasetti (Italian, 1913-1988): an early printed lacquer and tole "Architettura" trumeau
The pair of panelled doors enclosing a glass shelf interior with central tole niche, above a fall enclosing a void interior, with conforming printed design to the inside, above three drawers, on brass tapering legs, the whole lithographically printed with 'Architecturra', inspired by the Alessi Palace, Genoa, 80cm wide x 41cm deep x 220cm high, (31in wide x 16in deep x 86.5in high)
Footnotes
Provenance
Purchased from Nieman Marcus, Dallas, 1959;
Private Collection
Piero Fornasetti's design for the iconic 'Architettura' trumeau was inspired by a 1949 model created by Gio Ponti. Originally conceived as a one-of-a-kind piece, Ponti produced a limited edition of just four in the early 1950s. Fornasetti's version marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with Ponti and inaugurated a series of desk-cabinets exploring various architectural themes. The present model, distinguished by its square base, was designed in 1953.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, approximately forty examples were created, with only a handful produced in the 1970s. In the 1980s about ten additional pieces were reissued in an unnumbered edition.
Fornasetti's reinterpretation preserved the original structure while introducing several key modifications: simplified decorative elements that extended into the interior, a shift from a rounded to a rectangular base, and a streamlined cabinet top. Blending neoclassical motifs with geometric and primary forms, the 'Architettura' trumeau exemplifies Fornasetti's distinctive visual language- playful, refined, and graphically powerful. The result is a thoroughly modern, highly functional piece that serves equally well as both desk and cabinet.
For a comparable on ebonised bracket feet see Sotheby's, New York, Important Design, 8 December 2021, lot 184 and for an earlier example made in 1951 see Christie's, London, Thinking Italian Design, 16 October 2019, lot 18.