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Armchair

Place of origin: Milan, Italy (made)

Date: 1895-1900 (made)

Artist/Maker: Bugatti, Carlo, born 1856 - died 1940 (designer and maker)

Materials and Techniques: Walnut, turned and partly ebonised, with paintedvellum and stamped brass, silk cords

Museum number: W.10-1968

Gallery location: In Storage

Public access description

In the late nineteenth century, encouraged by influential retailers such as Liberty in London, La Maison Bing in Paris, and Tiffany in New York,

the cult of the exotic flourished in interior design. One of the most original contributions to this taste was made by the Italian designer Carlo

Bugatti (1856-1940), who had trained at the Brera Academy in Milan in the 1870s, followed by a period of study in Paris. Bugatti wasinterested in architecture and also designing silver, but is now best known for his furniture, which be began producing on a commercial scale in

Milan in 1888.

Bugattis furniture attempted to break away from historical conventions, reflecting the Art Nouveau appreciation in nature and the aesthetics of

Japan, the architecture of North Africa and the motifs of Islamic art. His use of materials such as painted vellum and stamped brass was also

adventurous. Although his furniture was often thought to be too bizarre to be imitated by his contemporaries, it met with critical success,

receiving a Diploma of Honour at the 1888 Italian Exhibition at Earls Court, London, and a medal at the International Exhibition of Modern

Decorative Art in Turin in 1902. His opulent and theatrical interiors appealed to clients such as Lord Battersea, who commissioned a bedroom

for his London home from the firm around 1900.

By the time of the Turin exhibition, Bugattis designs had become very sculptural, using bold geometric forms and large areas of sparsely

painted vellum. This chair, similar to one exhibited at Turin, is typical of his furniture both in the design and in the materials used. The

geometric frame and shield-like motifs on the legs show Bugatti's awareness of oriental and Islamic motifs, while the painted vellum for the

seat and back is an unconventional upholstery material.

Descriptive line

Armchair designed and made by Carlo Bugatti; turned walnut with painted vellum and repouss brass decoration; Milan; 1895-1900.

Physical description

Walnut, turned and partly ebonized with painted vellum and stamped brass. The four feet of rectangular secton rise at an angle of 45 degrees;

they have stamped brass cladding at the front, tapering down at the sides to the back. Above this, they are covered in vellum for a short way

before each pair meets a circular section, with segments missing from top and bottom, covered inside, ouside, and on the front and back

edges with stamped brass and in the centre of each side with a turned circle of wood containing a further turned circle of stamped brass which

is aptly covered with a central turned projection with a central ebonized finial. The front and back seat rails extended downwards to form

tapering boxes, rise from the circular stamped brass section, they are covered in vellum and contain the square sect on ebonized bases of the

arm and back-supports which rise from the segment missing from the upper part of the circular brass stamped section. The legs are thus

arranged as two approximate 'X' shapes with circles in the centre of each. The front and back edges of the seat are chamfered; the seat is

then framed by stamped brass.

The centre of the seat is of stretched vellum painted with a bamboo motif. The back of the arm supports rise above the level of the seat and

are turned as columns whose plain bases and capitals are of unebonized walnut and whose shafts are covered with spirals of stamped brass.

Above these columns are square section lengths connected by a double column of similar character separated by a wider length of

unebonized walnut, forming arms. The front arm supports terminate shortly above this level. The back supports rise in short, turned columnar

sections surmounted by three square blocks separated in rounded mouldings; these mouldings form grips for silk tasselled cords which pass

through a pair of holes on each side of the back rest; suspending it. This back rest is rectangular with a framing on back and front of stamped

brass; the remainder is covered with vellum, stretched over the back and front. The front panel is painted with flowers and signed 'Bugatti'.

Above this level, the finials are restorations formed two columns of stamped brass separated by moulded bases and surmounted by finials

formed as five sharply angled mouldings; these restored sections are based on the side chairs en-suite with the museum's chair.

Museum number

W.10-1968

Exhibition History

Owen Jones: Islamic Design, Discovery and Vision. (National Museum, Oslo 22/01/2011-25/04/2011)

Art Nouveau (Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 21/04/2001-08/07/2001)Art Nouveau (V&A 06/04/2000-30/07/2000)

URL

7/31/2019 Vanda Cis O49616

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http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O49616/armchair-bugatti-carlo/