PIERO FORNASETTI, CIRCA 1955, AFTER A DESIGN BY PIERO FORNASETTI AND GIO PONTI

This stunning marriage of architecture and furniture is the original piece modified by Fornasetti from the prototype designed in 1951 by himself and Gio Ponti (now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). From this model a limited edition of approximately twenty trumeaux were produced in the 1950s and 1960s, and reintroduced in an edition of ten in the 1980s. When one opens the doors of the trumeau and enters the interior of this fictitious palace, the metal apsidal space at the center of the camouflaged glass shelves is magically suspended over the steps, providing the viewer with a window into yet another world.
cf. Patrick Mauriès, Fornasetti Designer of Dreams (Victoria & Albert Museum exh. cat), pp. 100-101.