Thomas Moore
Head of Department
Lot 16Ф,TP,Y
An Italian 19th century Renaissance revival hardstone mounted ebony and engraved ivory marquetry table cabinet by Giovanni Battista Gatti (1816-1889)
27 November 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £23,812.50 inc. premium
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An Italian 19th century Renaissance revival hardstone mounted ebony and engraved ivory marquetry table cabinet by Giovanni Battista Gatti (1816-1889)
Circa 1865, inlaid overall with Arabesques of entwined scrolled foliage, honeysuckle, dragons, birds, animals, flaming torches, urns of flowers and griffins, surmounted by a baluster gallery, the top inlaid with four figures allegorical of the cardinal virtues: Justice, Fortitude, Prudence and Temperance, each within a tablet, above a pair of panelled doors each centred by a roundel, one depicting an allegorical figure of painting and the other an allegorical figure of poetry, the borders interspersed by ovals of classical figures such as Hercules, Venus, Cupid and Bacchus, with eight angles inlaid with profile medallions of Ludovico Ariosto, Petrarch, Torquato Tasso, Dante, Titian, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo encompassed by malachite and lapis lazuli cabochons, enclosing fifteen walnut lined drawers encased within a lockable removable box with two secret catches, with rounded angles and panelled sides, each side inlaid with tablet angles showing birds of various types within landscapes, the reverse with six small and three large inlaid tablets, each small one centred by a Green Man mask, with a printed label which reads: 'GIO.BATT.GATTI. Fabrica mobili di lusso facendo sui di essi in tarsia fiori, figure, ornati ed arabeschi, detti all Raffaello... ROMA, Via degli Angeli Custodi, No. 30, 90cm wide x 41cm deep x 69cm high, (35in wide x 16in deep x 27in high)
Footnotes
Provenance
It is highly probable that the offered lot was either inherited or purchased by the parents of the current vendor during the interwar period, although unfortunately there is no documentation to substantiate this. However the aforementioned couple, who married in 1934, worked for Stanley Gudgeon - an auctioneer based in Winchester - so it seems likely that they would have had both the knowledge and discernment to acquire such an exquisite item.
A similar cabinet to the present lot, which was attributed to Gatti, sold Christie's, London, 22 September 2011, The Opulent Eye, lot 230. Another which is virtually identical to the offered example is illustrated in C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th Century, p. 487. In Payne's view this model is 'almost the sibling' of an exceptional marquetry stipetto or bonheur du jour by Gatti, which won a first class medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1855 and sold Bonhams, 18 September 1980, Good English and Continental Furniture, lot 134. This latter piece, along with another comparable version, likewise dated circa 1855, both also feature in Payne, Ibid, p. 469.
The Gatti model from Payne's book appears again in G. W. Yapp's Art Industry of 1879. Yapp's publication comprised 1,200 illustrations of mid-19th century furniture but had a particular focus on some of the finest examples from the 1851, 1855 and 1862 International Exhibitions. It is pictured in connection to Yapp in Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, pp.'s 130 & xxxviii.
Giovanni Battista Gatti
G.B. Gatti was born in Florence where he became apprentice to the brothers Luigi and Angelo Falcini, who specialised and excelled in marquetry, before establishing a workshop of his own in Rome under the patronage of Cardinal Amant. Gatti was famed for his ebony and ivory intarsia, combining rinceaux ornament of stylised vines, urns and flowers, with cameo portrait medallions and Cinquecento strapwork. Gatti's furniture is often further embellished with the use of semi-precious hardstones such as the malachite and lapis lazuli medallions found on the offered item.
Gatti enjoyed the support of imperial, aristocratic and ecclesiastical patrons in Europe including the Austrian Emperor and the Duke of Hamilton. He was also popular amongst American industrial collectors such as Wright E. Post and William Gilstrap. Examples of his work are found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and the Institute of Arts in Minneapolis. Gatti was awarded numerous prizes for his work at the International Industrial and Cultural Exhibitions during the second half of the 19th century: a First Class Medal in 1855 at the Paris Exposition Universelle, a Diplome d'Honneur in Paris 1867 and a Gold Medal likewise in Paris, 1878. He also received a prize at Vienna's Internationalische Ausstellung in 1873.
Literature
C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th Century, 2013, Suffolk.
Art Industry. Furniture, Upholstery and House Decoration. Illustrative of the Carpenter, Joiner, Cabinet Maker, Painter, Decorator and Upholsterer, ed. by G. W. Yapp, circa 1879.
Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, 1989, Suffolk.