CARLO BUGATTI | Pair of Cobra chairs

painted parchment, wood and patinated copper

Private collection, Austria
Private collection, Italy

A. Melani, "L'Esposizione d'arte decorative odierna in Torino. III Mobili italiani", Arte italiana decorativa e industriale, July 6, 1902, p. 49
Philippe Dejean, Nadine Coleno, Carlo - Rembrandt - Ettore - Jean Bugatti, Nancy, 1981, p. 55
Irene de Guttry & Maria Paola Maino, Il mobile liberty italiano, Roma, 1983, p. 118
Frederick R. Brandt, The Sydney and Frances Lewis collection in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Late 19th and Early 20th Century Decorative Arts, Richmond, 1985, pp. 104-105
Rossana Bossaglia, Ezio Godoli, Marco Rosci, Torino 1902, Le arti decorative internazionali del nuovo secolo, Turin, 1994, p. 447
Henry H. Hawley, Bugatti, Cleveland, 1999, p. 21
Reconnaître Carlo Bugatti, exhibition catalogue, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, April 10 - July 15, 2001, pp. 54 and 57
Marie-Madeleine Massé, Carlo Bugatti au musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2001, p. 154
Il modo italiano. Design et avant-garde en Italie au XXème siècle, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, May 4 - August 27, 2006, p. 122
Amanda Dunsmore & John Payne, Bugatti, Carlo, Rembrandt, Ettore, Jean, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 54-57

Fair overall condition, consistent with age and use. The parchment presents with a few rare scratches, some stains and instances of light discoloration/staining, inherent to the aging process of the material, some tiny dents, tiny tears and tiny chips scattered and some previous restorations. The painted decor presents with some wear throughout, as visible in the catalogue illustration, and more significant on the seats and the bases. The painted decor of one seat has almost completely disappeared and the parchment on this seat is slightly warped. The feet presents with some more significant wear to the parchment, with some instances of uplifting, tears, dents and chips, consistent with age and use and partially visible in the catalogue illustration. The edges of the seat present with a few instances of uplifting. Some small losses of parchment and previous restorations. One seat edge presents with scattered superficial scuffs. There are several cracks to the parchment, and some of them have been previously stabilized and restored. The backrests present with a few more cracks, including a few ones with tears and losses. The brass elements at the upper edge of the central medalion are probably not original. One chair presents with several heavy-handed restorations : on a crack on approximately 8 cm below the copper element - visible on the catalogue illustration, on an area of approximately 3 x 4 cm on the top edge of the backrest, on an area of approximately 3X2 cm on the side of the backrest, and on an area of approximately 3 x 2 cm on the lower part of the backrest. The same chair also presents with two losses of parchment accompanied by chips of wood (the largest on approximately 4 cm, on the upper part of the backrest) - visible on the catalogue illustration. The copper elements present with some wear to the patina, more significant on one chair, and with some instances of oxidation. Both armchairs remain very attractive.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940) is, without a doubt, one of the pioneers of the Italian decorative arts. It has often been said that it was his designs that succeeded in transforming historicist eclecticism into Art Nouveau. Originally from a family of Milanese artists, he attended the Brera Academy where he showed a particular interest in architecture. He acquired a practice of cabinet making from Mentasti, a renowned cabinetmaker, with whom he trained until the opening of his own workshop around 1880. His furniture, with a style already well defined at the time, was inspired by the popular fashion for Moorish and Oriental iconography, with a complex mix of architectural elements and exotic asymmetrical decorations realised with materials of both animal and vegetable origin. Parchment, his favourite material, was painted by Bugatti and his early apprentices: included his two sons - Ettore, who became the famous car designer and Rembrandt, the celebrated animal sculptor. Isolated both in the eclectic and modernist context, his designs anticipated the stylised and geometric forms of Art Deco, twenty years before the movement became known.

The design for the Cobra chair was first exhibited in 1902, at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin.  Four chairs were grouped around a small circular table in a room which reproduced a snail shell on a human scale.  Heated debates amongst the public and the jury ensued, though the latter eventually awarded Bugatti a Grand Prix d'Honneur for being "the first in Italy to create, and not just to dream, a modern style of furniture". Alfredo Melani, the most famous critic of the time, wrote: "The lines here have a rotational movement". Far removed from the hard-hitting, angular Arabic forms of his first period, the pieces he exhibited, for which he become celebrated, evoked a  "sinuous science fiction". When the Queen of Italy, Helen of Savoy, congratulated him on his "Moorish" style furniture, he replied: "You are wrong, Majesty, this style is mine".

The Cobra chair is now considered as one of the most avant-garde pieces in Bugatti's oeuvre, where his inventive audacity combined with unparalleled modernity.

The model is recorded, as number 764, in the sales catalogue Della Fabbrica Italiana Mobili Artistici A. De Vecchi & C., formerly C. Bugatti & C. via Marcona 13 - Milan. Individual copies are not recorded, indeed after the success of the Turin exhibition the orders could have been numerous.  Each chair entirely covered with parchment and decorated with Indian ink designs of stylised flowers and insects is handcrafted and this explains the variations existing in the various surviving models.        

The extraordinary pair, offered here, demonstrate the complex fantasy and visionary talent of Carlo Bugatti.

Maria Paola Maino              

Archivi delle arti applicate italiane del XX secolo