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Lot Essay
The finely detailed relief carving of this elegant commode, with panels of laurel leaves framed by basket-weave trellis uprights, the sides with richly carved flower-filled baskets, relates it to the work of the celebrated Turinese cabinet-maker Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, who was appointed sculptor to the Royal court of Turin in 1787 by Vittorio Amedeo III.
Bonzanigo trained primarily as a sculptor, and his work is characterized primarily by the jewel-like, naturalistic quality of his carving. The panelled arrangement of the commode offered here is typical of his case furniture, with the panels at the sides left open to display the virtuosity of his carving. A related pair of commodes by Bonzanigo, with similar laurel fronds framed by fretted borders, the sides with large flower-filled vases, is in the apartment of Queen Maria Antonia in the Palazzo Reale, Turin (illustrated in V. Viale et al., Mostra del Barocco Piemontese, exh. cat. Turin, 1963, vol. III, fig. 211).
Bonzanigo trained primarily as a sculptor, and his work is characterized primarily by the jewel-like, naturalistic quality of his carving. The panelled arrangement of the commode offered here is typical of his case furniture, with the panels at the sides left open to display the virtuosity of his carving. A related pair of commodes by Bonzanigo, with similar laurel fronds framed by fretted borders, the sides with large flower-filled vases, is in the apartment of Queen Maria Antonia in the Palazzo Reale, Turin (illustrated in V. Viale et al., Mostra del Barocco Piemontese, exh. cat. Turin, 1963, vol. III, fig. 211).