Lot 217 A
217 A
AN ITALIAN FOUR-PIECE SILVER AND ENAMEL TEA AND COFFEE SERVICE IN GLASS CABINET

Details
AN ITALIAN FOUR-PIECE SILVER AND ENAMEL TEA AND COFFEE SERVICE IN GLASS CABINET
DESIGNED BY ALDO ROSSI FOR ALESSI, 1984

Comprising coffee pot, teapot, covered sugar bowl and spoon, and cream jug; the coffee pot and teapot of tapering cylindrical form below a light blue enamel neck enclosed by chased lobes, with angular spout and strapwork handle, the conical cover with similar lobed rim and surmounted by a quartz bead finial, the cylindrical sugar bowl with domed cover and similar finial, the tapering cylindrical cream jug with similar handle and spout; the rectangular glass house raised on a slate pedestal base, the hinged doors with similar clear-glass bead handle, with light blue enamel pediment enclosed by slate border and with circular clock with arabic numerals, surmounted by a light blue enamel triangular pennant, with oxidized copper roof, each piece stamped ALESSI and signed AR, 1984, 11/99--height of coffee pot 10 7/8in. (27.7cm.); height of glass house 23in. (58.4cm.)
(gross weight of tea service 68 oz. 10 dwt.)

Lot Essay

Designed for Alessi's Tea and Coffee Piazza series, this tea and coffee service represents Aldo Rossi's acclaimed use of pure geometric forms. The cabinet, with a clock in the pediment recalls Rossi's cabinet for the model of his Teatrino Scientifico of 1978, published in Gianni Braghieri, Aldo Rossi, Bologna, 1981, pp.148-149. This tea and coffee service design has been widely published, and is illustrated in Robert A.M. Stern, ed., International Design Yearbook 1985/86, New York, 1986, fig.389, p.167; J. Capella and Q. Larrea, Designed by ARchitects in the 1980s, New York, 1988; and in Alessi's catalogue, Offician Alessi, 1990, p.80.