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Lot Essay
cf. P. Dejean, Carlo-Rembrandt-Ettore-Jean Bugatti, Paris, 1982, p. 74 for another cabinet of this model.
Bugatti designed this cabinet for the First International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Turin, Italy, in 1902. His fame as a furniture designer grew when he received a diploma of honor at the exhibition. There, he designed four complete rooms and showed numerous invidivual pieces, all of which were widely illustrated in international publications and noted for their bizarre motifs and materials, perfection of workmanship and stylistic unity. One of Bugatti's room displays was characterized as reminiscent of a snail, both in its overall form and its individual components, with spiraling circular forms predominating. The famous 'snail' chair from this room integrated the back, seat and legs into a single continuous curving form, the wood frame covered by painted parchment to disguise the joinery beneath.
Carlo Bugatti died in relative objscurity in 1940. His sons, however, carried on his artistic legacy - Rembrandt became a noted sculptor of animals and Ettore designed early motor cars.
Bugatti designed this cabinet for the First International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Turin, Italy, in 1902. His fame as a furniture designer grew when he received a diploma of honor at the exhibition. There, he designed four complete rooms and showed numerous invidivual pieces, all of which were widely illustrated in international publications and noted for their bizarre motifs and materials, perfection of workmanship and stylistic unity. One of Bugatti's room displays was characterized as reminiscent of a snail, both in its overall form and its individual components, with spiraling circular forms predominating. The famous 'snail' chair from this room integrated the back, seat and legs into a single continuous curving form, the wood frame covered by painted parchment to disguise the joinery beneath.
Carlo Bugatti died in relative objscurity in 1940. His sons, however, carried on his artistic legacy - Rembrandt became a noted sculptor of animals and Ettore designed early motor cars.