The Royal family of Savoy created a dynamic court in Turin, commissioning works of art, furniture, and paintings from the best artists of Turin and its surroundings. The positioning of their territories bordering artistically diverse regions, created an influx of influences that resulted in an idiosyncratic creative input, so visible in the Gianni Giordano Collection. The spectacular centre table is influenced by the French designers Heurtaut, Foliot, Ladate and the silversmith Thomas Germain and it is an exquisite example of the taste for European chinoseries, so fashionable at that time. A few decades later when the neoclassical style spread through Europe, the Savoy kings ordered new furniture for the Hunting pavilion at Stupinigi, such as the three stools, clearly influenced by Parisian models. The giltwood lyre-shaped appliques and the pair of parcel-gilt and painted jardinières, once at the Royal Palace of Turin, can also be related to the work of Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, the celebrated Piedmontese cabinet maker.

The Royal Art in Piedmont

The art of pietra dura and micromosaics had its roots in Rome but its success and appeal travelled throughout the Italian peninsula and beyond. Florence became the key center for pietre dure, reaching the peak of its ability to imitate painting through natural materials at the precise time when the View of Livorno was painted. This expensive, complex and time-consuming technique resulted in the development of other durable techniques that would also emulate the art of painting, such as scagliola, made with coloured powdered gypsum. Lorenzo Bononcelli created works of art for the royal court that successfully deceived the viewers and the pair of panels in the sale is an exciting addition to his oeuvre. Creating pictorial panels with tiny tesserae, obtained from coloured glass filaments, was also an impressive technical achievement, that became a great commercial success with collectors and Grand Tourists. The example in the sale by Cesare Aguatti, recreating a view of Tivoli, is one of the first produced in the technique and was acquired by Pope Pius VI to be used as a diplomatic gift.

The Art of the Illusion

The Gianni Giordano collection presents an important selection of neoclassical objects and furniture. France was the reference in terms of taste and design in the late 18th and early 19th century, exemplified in this impressive gilt-bronze mounted red porphyry “vases au lion” after a model by Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot and the rare Sèvres porcelain bleu nouveau ground vase. Italian families commissioned furniture and objects that would reflect the cosmopolitan taste coming from the north, but retaining some of the Italian flair, such as the suite of chairs made for villa Palagonia in Sicily, neoclassical in style but with verre églomisé panels imitating marble. The gilt-bronze and porcelain inkstand made for the kings of the Two Sicilies, is an interesting example of the cross-cultural currents between Paris and Naples, with the porcelain produced the France, but decorated in Italy.

When France Meets Italy

The Giordano Collection presents three major objects by the Valadiers, the remarkable Roman dynasty of artists who specialized in objects made of bronze and silver and who often combined these materials with hardstones and marble. Embodying the neoclassical taste, the pair of bronze mounted marble tazze and a pair of gilt-bronze mounted white marble candelabra are an exuberant example of the creative possibilities of the antiquarian taste. Also part of this group is an important silver-gilt cellaret made for the Cardinal Duke of York.

The Valadier Dynasty

Porcelain was a new fashionable and precious medium known as “the White Gold” of the 18th century in Europe. The Doccia porcelain manufactory, established in 1737 by Marchese Carlo Andrea Ginori on the outskirts of Florence, was among the earliest to successfully produce true ‘hard paste’ porcelain in Europe and certainly one of the most innovative and artistically ambitious makers in Italy.&nbsp; The year the factory was founded the Marchese boldly hired Florentine sculptor Gaspero Bruschi, who became the leading modeller of sculptural works at the factory. Upon the death of Carlo in 1757, Lorenzo Ginori, the eldest of his three sons, took charge of the factory, carrying it forward with a refined artistic vision and commercial acumen that saw him push the boundaries of what was achievable in the medium of porcelain. Testament to the vision of Carlo and his son, as owners and directors of the factory, are the three exceptional lots presented here.

Chefs-d’œuvre from the Doccia Manufactor

A pictorial genre that flourished in the eighteenth century, the vedute is mostly linked with the “Grand Tour” - a cultural tour undertaken by artists and aristocrats to European cities, mainly the Italian cities of Venice, Rome and Florence, but also Naples, with Gaspar van Wittel and Antonio Joli being two of the main representatives of this genre in the Parthenopean city. These urban landscapes exemplify the taste of the period for panoramic and topographical views, for naturalistic detail and the desire for realistic representations.&nbsp; Meticulous cartography, geographical accuracy and mastery of the laws of perspective are all characteristic features of the vedute, which offer a faithful image of eighteenth century Italian and European cities and testify to the convergence of Flemish and Italian pictorial traditions.

Vedute & Capricci

Paris

Head of Department, Furniture

Louis-Xavier Joseph

Senior coordinator |  Furniture department | Head of sale | Silver department

Marine de Cenival

SVP, Head of European Furniture

Dennis Harrington

Vice President | International Specialist | European Ceramics & Glass

Richard Hird

Ceramics Consultant

Rebecca Wintgens

Head of Department, Sculpture

Francesco Morroni

Senior International Specialist, English and European Furniture; Head of Department, Classic Design, London

João Magalhães 

Head of Department, 19th Century Continental Pictures

Olivier Lefeuvre

Senior Vice President | Worldwide Head of Department, Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art

Margaret H Schwartz

Associate Specialist | Sculpture

Clémence Bertrand

Specialist, Head of Department, Vertu and Gold Boxes

Alexandra Starp

Deputy Director | Collection Project Manager

Céline Deruelle

Meet our Specialists

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Sotheby's will be honoured to present the most important group of Italian classical decorative art ever to appear on the art market. The collection includes works by some of the greatest artists and designers who cemented the reputation of Italian art in the 18th century, including works of art from the Grand Ducal and Vatican workshops and by renowned artists such as Ginori, Maggiolini, Valadier, Righetti and Raffaelli.

The Giordano Collection: Une Vision Muséale Part I