Lot Essay
Giuseppe Maggiolini (1738-1814) was first noticed for his advanced and highly skilled marquetry work in 1768, when he was visited by the designer Giuseppe Levati and Marchese Litta, which led to several commissions at the villa of the Marchese. He was soon recognised in wider circles and held the title Intarsiatore delle Loro Altezze Reali. In 1771 he received his first important commission to supply furniture to the Milanese court, on the marriage of the Arciduca Ferdinando di Lorena and Duchessa Maria Beatrice d'Este. His workshop grew to thirty employees, and subsequently, among others, supervised the construction and furnishing projects of the Palazzo Ducale in Milan, the Villa Reale in Monza and the Palazzo Ducale in Mantova. He enjoyed great success and numerous commissions from the aristocracy in Northern Italy. It was only with the political changes of 1796, which overthrew the old regime, that his success diminuished, before receiving important commissions anew towards the end of the century. He died impoverished in 1814.
His oeuvre has been tentatively dated, based on designs and the few known dated works. Stylistically it proves, however, to be very difficult to place a lot of his work chronologically as his designs were used over long periods by his workshop.
The general construction of this commode, including the fluted toupie feet, directly relates to commodes made in Maggiolini's workshop in the 1790s, such as lot 72 in this sale, which also displays a closely related ribbon-twist border. Moreover, the decoration can be related to surviving designs. The central rosette, for instance, compares to drawings now in the Civica Raccolta delle Stampe, A. Bertarelli, Milan, which are illustrated in G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Intarsiato di Giuseppe Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, plate CXXI, while the scrolling foliage of the frieze and bottom drawer more directly derives from a design in the same collection, illustrated in G. Morazzoni, op.cit., plate CIV. This design is repeated on a signed and dated commode of 1790, with identical channelled toupie feet, in the collection of the Civiche Raccolte d'Arte Applicata, Milan (illustrated in G. Beretti, Giuseppe e Carlo Francesco Maggiolini, L'Officina del Neoclassicismo, Milan, 1994, pp. 142-145, plate XXII, and in G. Rosa, I Mobili nelle Civiche Raccolte Artistiche di Milano, Milan, 1963, p. 141, cat. 393)
His oeuvre has been tentatively dated, based on designs and the few known dated works. Stylistically it proves, however, to be very difficult to place a lot of his work chronologically as his designs were used over long periods by his workshop.
The general construction of this commode, including the fluted toupie feet, directly relates to commodes made in Maggiolini's workshop in the 1790s, such as lot 72 in this sale, which also displays a closely related ribbon-twist border. Moreover, the decoration can be related to surviving designs. The central rosette, for instance, compares to drawings now in the Civica Raccolta delle Stampe, A. Bertarelli, Milan, which are illustrated in G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Intarsiato di Giuseppe Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, plate CXXI, while the scrolling foliage of the frieze and bottom drawer more directly derives from a design in the same collection, illustrated in G. Morazzoni, op.cit., plate CIV. This design is repeated on a signed and dated commode of 1790, with identical channelled toupie feet, in the collection of the Civiche Raccolte d'Arte Applicata, Milan (illustrated in G. Beretti, Giuseppe e Carlo Francesco Maggiolini, L'Officina del Neoclassicismo, Milan, 1994, pp. 142-145, plate XXII, and in G. Rosa, I Mobili nelle Civiche Raccolte Artistiche di Milano, Milan, 1963, p. 141, cat. 393)