A chair, circa 1953

Mollino maintained an interest in the Alpine landscape throughout his life, and in 1953 he founded the Institute of Mountain Architecture. A keen and talented skier, he was chairman of the board of schools and instructors of the FISI, the Italian Winter Sports Federation, and consequently was stimulated by the possibilities of designing buildings for use both in this landscape and within the context of winter sports. The Casa del Sole was a ten-story apartment complex for ski enthusiasts that was to be sited on difficult, sloping terrain in the Italian Alpine resort of Cervinia. By 1954 work on the building was sufficiently completed to allow the delivery of and fitting of the specially-designed furniture, which were of consciously rugged construction in order to withstand regular use and stylistically were informed by Mollino’s earlier studies into Alpine, vernacular furniture and architecture. The architectonic, trussed personality of the tables were complemented by chairs that revealed the subtleties of Mollino’s own personalised references, to include the gently hooked, horn-like aspects to the rear of the seats, and a distinctively bi-partite back. Around thirty years ago, the remaining, surviving furnishings from the Casa del Sole were removed, to be swiftly dispersed amongst international collectors. In total, around 150 chairs were originally produced, from which some estimates suggest that less than 50 now remain. Together with a small quantity of square tables for use in private apartments, a further 25 rectangular dining tables were commissioned, all inset with green-laminate tops. Additionally, 25 square tables with oak tops were produced for the Pavia restaurant, located on the ground floor of the complex.


The present armchair is registered in the library of the Museo Casa Mollino, Turin, as number 430-23

Christie’s wishes to thank Fulvio Ferrari and Napoleone Ferrari, Museo Casa Mollino, Turin, for their assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.