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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 of 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 Archduke Ferdinando di Lorena and Duchess Maric Beatrice d'Este. His workshop grew to thirty employees and he supervised, among other projects, the construction and furnishing of the Palazzo Ducale in Milan, the villa Reale in Monza and the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua.
Maggiolini's work is characterised by the use of high quality veneers, often of exotic timbers, and by the attention paid to the pictorial effect and shading of the marquetry. Like the magnificent Bute desk by Maggiolini, which was almost certainly supplied to Austria's Plenipotentiary Minister to Lombardy, Joseph Wilczek (sold by Christie's in 1996), this pair of commodes can be clearly identified as Maggiolini's on the basis of designs for marquetry panels from his workshop in the Civiche Raccolte d'Art, Milan. These drawings, which were often inspired by antique Roman sources, were supplied by the most famous Lombardy designers of the time, Giuseppe Levati, Giocondo Albertolli and Andrea Appiani.
The finely-drawn marquetry and carefully ordered design of these important commodes relates them closely to the documented oeuvre of Maggiolini. The striking panels of the drawers are inlaid with pairs of billing doves, emblematic of love and often based on designs by Levati. Pairs of doves appear in a number of pieces attributed to Maggiolini's workshop, including a commode, once one of a pair and now in a private collection, Modena, and on the fall-front of a secretaire in a private collection, Milan (G. Beretti, Giuseppe Maggiolini, L'Officina del Neoclassicismo, Milan, 1994, pp. 90 & 122). Interestingly, a floor in the Palazzo Reale in Monza also incorporates an intarsia panel of paired doves with Cupid's quiver (ibid, pp. 22-3); and a further commode attributed to Maggiolini features a central panel of billing doves within a floral wreath, now in a private collection (ibid, pp. 94-6).
The motif of a musical trophy issuing delicately scrolling foliage, which appears on the sides of these commodes, recurs frequently in Maggiolini's work, and was also inspired by designs by Levati (ibid, pp. 82-3; G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Intarsiato di Giuseppe Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, fig. LXXXVII). The finely drawn foliage of the frieze is typical of Maggiolini's work, featuring in almost identical format in a drawing by him in the Civica Raccolte delle Stampe, Milan (ibid, fig. CIX). Furthermore, the distinguishing feature of marquetry inlaid into the curved edge of the frieze is of a type found on numerous other documented pieces by Maggiolini, while the inlaid lion's mask at the top of the legs relates to a design by his workshop for a handle (Beretti, op. cit., p. 188, fig. 240).
Maggiolini's work is characterised by the use of high quality veneers, often of exotic timbers, and by the attention paid to the pictorial effect and shading of the marquetry. Like the magnificent Bute desk by Maggiolini, which was almost certainly supplied to Austria's Plenipotentiary Minister to Lombardy, Joseph Wilczek (sold by Christie's in 1996), this pair of commodes can be clearly identified as Maggiolini's on the basis of designs for marquetry panels from his workshop in the Civiche Raccolte d'Art, Milan. These drawings, which were often inspired by antique Roman sources, were supplied by the most famous Lombardy designers of the time, Giuseppe Levati, Giocondo Albertolli and Andrea Appiani.
The finely-drawn marquetry and carefully ordered design of these important commodes relates them closely to the documented oeuvre of Maggiolini. The striking panels of the drawers are inlaid with pairs of billing doves, emblematic of love and often based on designs by Levati. Pairs of doves appear in a number of pieces attributed to Maggiolini's workshop, including a commode, once one of a pair and now in a private collection, Modena, and on the fall-front of a secretaire in a private collection, Milan (G. Beretti, Giuseppe Maggiolini, L'Officina del Neoclassicismo, Milan, 1994, pp. 90 & 122). Interestingly, a floor in the Palazzo Reale in Monza also incorporates an intarsia panel of paired doves with Cupid's quiver (ibid, pp. 22-3); and a further commode attributed to Maggiolini features a central panel of billing doves within a floral wreath, now in a private collection (ibid, pp. 94-6).
The motif of a musical trophy issuing delicately scrolling foliage, which appears on the sides of these commodes, recurs frequently in Maggiolini's work, and was also inspired by designs by Levati (ibid, pp. 82-3; G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Intarsiato di Giuseppe Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, fig. LXXXVII). The finely drawn foliage of the frieze is typical of Maggiolini's work, featuring in almost identical format in a drawing by him in the Civica Raccolte delle Stampe, Milan (ibid, fig. CIX). Furthermore, the distinguishing feature of marquetry inlaid into the curved edge of the frieze is of a type found on numerous other documented pieces by Maggiolini, while the inlaid lion's mask at the top of the legs relates to a design by his workshop for a handle (Beretti, op. cit., p. 188, fig. 240).