Detail View: The AMICA Library: Cabinet

AMICA ID: 
CMA_.1984.177
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Name: 
Bugatti, Carlo
Creator Nationality: 
European; French
Creator Role: 
designed by
Creator Dates/Places: 
1856 - 1940
Biography: 
active in France after c. 1904.
Gender: 
M
Creator Birth Place: 
Italy
Creator Name-CRT: 
Carlo Bugatti
Title: 
Cabinet
Title Type: 
Primary
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
c. 1895
Creation Start Date: 
1890
Creation End Date: 
1900
Materials and Techniques: 
wood with metal inlays and painted parchment, glass doors and mirror
Classification Term: 
Furniture and woodwork
Classification Term: 
Furniture and woodwork
Dimensions: 
Overall: 224.5cm x 141cm x 55.3cm
AMICA Contributor: 
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 
1984.177
Credit Line: 
Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor, New York
Inscriptions: 
vellum panel on right side at the bottom signed in pseudo Japanese letters: 'Casati. (No professional artist of this name has been discovered; may be the work of the society woman, the Marchese Casati.)
Rights: 
Context: 
This cabinet is typical Bugatti. In form it is asymmetrical, with a towerlike element at one side. There are Islamic-inspired ornaments in its design, notably the onion-shaped arches in the upper stage. Japanese influence is evident in the white metal inlays and, even more clearly, in the sepia-painted parchment panels in the lower portion of the cabinet. One of these, at the bottom left, is signed 'Casati.' No contemporary painter with this name has been discovered, but the Marchesa Luisa Casati, a well-known socialite in Milan, is known to have been an acquaintance of Carlo Bugatti. Although she is not recorded as having been a painter, she may have decorated this cabinet, or was possibly its original owner.The cabinet displays an extensive vocabulary of other decorative devices, including the ebonizing of part of its wooden frame, the turned and shaped wooden ornaments, repoussé metal reliefs, mirrored and green glass, and tassels. Despite their diversity, Bugatti organized all these elements into a coherent design.
Related Image Identifier Link: 
CMA_.1984.177.tif