A rare 'Arlecchino' coffee table, executed for a private commission, Milan, circa 1956

The investigation of chromatic and geometric interplay proved an enduring motivation for Ponti and was most thoroughly explored in his seminal interiors of the 1950s. Crucial amongst these were Villa Planchart, Caracas, (1953-1957), the Italian Cultural Institute, Stockholm, (1952-1958), and Ponti’s own residence on via Dezza, Milan, (1956-1957). All revealed interior schemes treated with defined palettes and bold geometries to both floor and wall, and to the complementary furnishings and textiles. The employment of grid-like structures was already a feature of Ponti’s furniture designs by the 1930s, however it was the with the brief and limited bespoke production of painted metal Arlecchino tables of the mid-1950s that Ponti was to transpose palette and form to elegant, supreme effect. Two variations of Arlecchino table were developed. A variation supplied to the Villa Planchart featured a taller perimeter wall more aligned with Ponti’s wooden lattice tables of the 1940s. The present example, thinner-walled and exquisitely hand-crafted by Giordano Chiesa from straps of brass, is of the type Ponti selected for use in his own home on via Dezza (illustrated). A period photograph of the 1957 Liberty & Co. exhibition in London reveals another example, possibly Ponti’s own. Another example, the brass legs later black-painted, was exhibited at the recent Gio Ponti retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. On the present lot four chromatic palettes are painted to the flanks of the internal lattice, increasing to eight depending on the vantage of the spectator. Preserved in excellent original condition, and retaining the original security glass top, the recent rediscovery of this important and rare example presents a unique opportunity for engagement.