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Lot Essay
The desk's sinuous curved form and pierced angled mounts are characteristic of Genoese furniture produced in the mid-18th century, and emblematic of the influence of French design given Genoa's vicinity to France. Closely related desks are illustrated in L.Caumont Caimi, L'Ebanisteria Genovese del Settecento, Parma, 1995, pp. 100, 136-137, figs. 43, 89-92. A further example of this form was sold from the Estate of Giuseppe Rossi, Sotheby's, London, 10 March 1999, lot 190.
THE PROVENANCE
The desk once took its place in the collections of two prominent Italian women of the twentieth century. Anna Bonomi Bolchini was the entrepreneurial daughter of Carlo Bonomi, the owner of a leading luxury real estate company in Milan. Beni Immobili Italia, the company that she inherited from her father, and her Postal Market Italiana, Italy's largest mail-order house, placed her among the country's most successful executives and made her one of its wealthiest women.
Marella Agnelli, the wife of Fiat Chairman Gianni Agnelli, was born in Florence to a noble Neapolitan family. She, too, pursued a successful career in the world of fashion contributing to Vogue as sometimes editor and photographer. She is widely admired as a style icon and prominent socialite, one of Truman Capote's 'swans' alongside Babe Paley, C.Z. Guest, Slim Keith and Pamela Harriman.
THE PROVENANCE
The desk once took its place in the collections of two prominent Italian women of the twentieth century. Anna Bonomi Bolchini was the entrepreneurial daughter of Carlo Bonomi, the owner of a leading luxury real estate company in Milan. Beni Immobili Italia, the company that she inherited from her father, and her Postal Market Italiana, Italy's largest mail-order house, placed her among the country's most successful executives and made her one of its wealthiest women.
Marella Agnelli, the wife of Fiat Chairman Gianni Agnelli, was born in Florence to a noble Neapolitan family. She, too, pursued a successful career in the world of fashion contributing to Vogue as sometimes editor and photographer. She is widely admired as a style icon and prominent socialite, one of Truman Capote's 'swans' alongside Babe Paley, C.Z. Guest, Slim Keith and Pamela Harriman.