Cabinet

Artist Carlo Bugatti (Italian, 1856 - 1940)

Dateca. 1890

MediumWalnut, ebonized wood, parchment, brass, pewter, and glass

DimensionsOverall: 111 3/4 × 64 × 20 1/4 inches (283.85 × 162.56 × 51.44 cm)

Credit LineGift of Daniel J. Maddux

Object number2017.50

On View

Not on view

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionA monumental library cabinet of walnut and ebonized wood with ornamented inlays of bronze, brass, and pewter in geometric patterns, and original amber hammered glass fronts. The cabinet has two central doors with elaborate inlay and cutout arrow-form pendants, flanked by two smaller doors, all of which are framed in veneered parchment and open to reveal interior shelving. Rising above the central cabinet is a square cupola with a Moorish-inspired pointed arch topped by a balustrade of hammered brass minarets. A central back panel is decorated parchment with painted scenes of stylized birds and grass in brown pigment. An arcaded frieze of pierced and hammered brass roundels and columns surmounts above four doors. Pointed arches with recessed shelves lined with parchment and hammered tacks ground the two bottom corners of the cabinet. Below these are three drawers decorated with bands of geometric designs inlaid in bronze, pewter, and brass. The cabinet sits on a carved plinth with a pattern of repeating squares.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Carlo Bugatti, A World of Imagination, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Toronto, February 9-May 27, 1995, no.4.

Provenance

Mr. John W. Mecom Jr. (b. 1940) and Mrs. Katsy (née Mullendore, 1940-2017) Mecom, Houston, TX;

Sold, Important 20th Century Decorative Arts, Sotheby's New York, December 2, 1989, lot 702;

Private Collection, Canada;

Sold, Important Twentieth Century Decorative Works of Art, Sotheby's New York, December 4, 1998, lot 511;

With Jonny Kalisch (1929-2015), Shakespeare, Ontario, by 2002;

Daniel Maddux (b. 1961), San Antonio, TX, by ca. 2002-2017 [1];

His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.

NOTES:

[1] This piece was offered for sale by Maddux at Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, Christie’s, New York, June 13, 2008, lot 127, and at Important Design, Sotheby’s, New York, June 6, 2017, lot 40, but failed to sell in both instances.

Published References

Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Carlo Bugatti, A World of Imagination, exh. cat. (Toronto, Canada: Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 1994), 24-25 (repro.).

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