Carlo Bugatti Milan Art Nouveau Table Circa 1902 Turin / Milano, Italy

Carlo Bugatti, Milan – Art Nouveau Table, Precious Wood, Aluminium Marquetry and Hand-Forged Copper Medallions, circa 1902 Carlo Bugatti · Milan 1856 – 1940 · Turin Exhibition 1902 · Precious Wood · Aluminium Marquetry · Hand-Forged Copper Medallions

An Art Nouveau table in precious wood with aluminium marquetry and hand-forged copper medallions, designed and executed by Carlo Bugatti in his Milanese atelier on Via Castelfiardo, circa 1902. Height 71 cm · width 116 cm · depth 60 cm. Very good condition, restored and ready to live with.

The characteristic combination of historicist, oriental and architectural elements — precious wood, aluminium metal inlays, hand-forged repoussé copper applications — is the most accomplished expression of Bugatti's formal vocabulary at the apex of his Milanese period: a radically personal formal language that refuses classification within any contemporary movement and anticipates the modern concept of total design. The dating to circa 1902 corresponds to the moment of Bugatti's triumph at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin — the culmination of his furniture design career, after which he sold his Milanese workshop and settled in Paris.

Piece documented in the reference literature: illustrated in Dejean, Philippe: Carlo – Rembrandt – Ettore – Jean Bugatti, Rizzoli, New York, 1981, p. 50 — the definitive monographic reference on the Bugatti family.

Carlo Bugatti (Milan, 2 February 1856 – Molsheim, Alsace, 1940) studied first at the Brera Academy in Milan, and subsequently from 1875 at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1880 he started to manufacture furniture in Milan. He triumphed at the Turin Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1902 and moved to Paris in 1904. Father of animal sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti and automobile manufacturer Ettore Bugatti. His furniture attempted to break away from historical conventions, reflecting the Art Nouveau appreciation in nature and the aesthetics of Japan, the architecture of North Africa and the motifs of Islamic art. His works are held in the collections of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Museo delle Arti Decorative of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. WikidataWikipedia

• Height: 71 cm · Width: 116 cm · Depth: 60 cm
• Materials: precious wood · aluminium marquetry · hand-forged copper medallions
• Design and execution: Carlo Bugatti, Milan, Via Castelfiardo, circa 1902
• Literature: Dejean, Philippe: Carlo – Rembrandt – Ettore – Jean Bugatti, Rizzoli, New York, 1981, p. 50
• Public collections: Musée d'Orsay, Paris · Victoria and Albert Museum, London · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Museo delle Arti Decorative, Castello Sforzesco, Milan
• Condition: very good · restored · ready to live with

Seen in museums — available to you.

Available for viewing by appointment at our Düsseldorf gallery.

Keywords integrated: Carlo Bugatti Milan, Art Nouveau table wood aluminium copper, Turin Exhibition 1902, Musée d'Orsay, Victoria Albert Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Rizzoli 1981, Italian total design