Lot Essay
A commode of identical concept with the same inlay to the top, main panels and legs, but with a different frieze and without the later ormolu mounts, from the collection of Count Luigi Mappelli, Milan, is attributed to the workshop of Giuseppe Maggiolini, circa 1790, by G. Morazzoni in his Il Mobile Intarsiato di Giuseppe Maggiolini, Milan, 1957, plate LXIV. The inlay of the main panels is indeed related to such designs as the one for a console table in the Palazzo Reale, Genova, which has putti issuing from entwined acanthus scrolls (G. Beretti, Giuseppe e Carlo Franceso Maggiolini, Milan, 1994, pp. 182-185, the design in the Civica Raccolta delle Stampe being fig. 237 bis.), but the overall concept is possibly, as Beretti notes, less harmonious than Maggiolini's furniture, which are also based on Giuseppe Levati's designs.
A related commode with similar herms issuing from delicate acanthus scrolls was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 9 December 1988, lot 158.
For a short biography of Maggiolini please see lot 32.
A related commode with similar herms issuing from delicate acanthus scrolls was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 9 December 1988, lot 158.
For a short biography of Maggiolini please see lot 32.