A pair of Italian walnut painted and parcel-gilt banquettes, Lucca, designed by Agostino Fantastici (1782-1845) early 19th century

Sold in these Rooms, as lot 254, 15th December 1999.

Comparative Literature:
Enrico Colle, Il Mobile Impero in Italia, Milan, 1998 p.98 illustrates a sphinx of identical design (Chigi Saracini Collection Siena)

Carlo Cresti, Agostino Fantastici Architetto Senese 1782-1845, Catalogue of the Exhibition, 25th September - 15th November 1992, Siena, printed in Turin, 1992 for entries for furniture by Fausto Calderei.

The present pair of sofas bear close similarities with examples of recorded furniture after designs by the Sienese Agostino Fantastici (1782-1845).

An identical sphinx is in the Chigi Saracini Collection, Siena, a family for whom Fantastici worked (see E. Colle, op. cit., page 98)-reproduced here in fig.1.
A very similar recumbent sphinx is also at the end of a sofa, post 1828, (whereabouts unknown), made after designs by Fantastici for the Salotto Egizio in the Villino del Pavone (see post). It is ill. in C. Cresti, op. cit., cat. 16m, pp. 204205.

Sphinxes, although of different design, are also at either side of a banquette, after a recorded design by Fantastici (ill. E. Colle, op. cit., page 180, cat. 58; C. Cresti, op. cit., cat. 13m, pp. 201202 and cat. XXIm, page 238).

Agostino Fantastici (1782-1845) was born in Siena, the son of Bernardino Fantastici, the Chief Architect of Siena. After having completed his studies in Rome, he returned to Siena in 1806, where he received his first important commission. He drew up the plans for the Church of San Salvatore at Montalcino for the Governor Giulio Bianchi Bandinelli (d. 1824), the great champion of neo-classicism.
In 1825, Mario Bianchi Bandinelli, eldest son of the deceased Governor, asked Fantastici to carry out the renovation of the Villa del Pavone which was finished in 1828. This commisssion also included La Giardino de Delizie, La Grotta and the Pyramidical chapel as well as the objects and the furniture for the house. The communal library in Siena has a book of drawings containing forty plates by Fantastici for the furnishings of the house, church and shop. Thiry-five of these drawings are annotated and carry the names of clients and all except one relate to Siena. The book of designs has also been studied by Fausto Calderai in an article in the Journal of the Furniture History Society in 1984.