Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
8
to
1
6
2
8
8
8
5
1
1
8
8
1
2
3
1
Height
to
Width
to
6
5
4
2
2
7
7
543
71
70
52
45
Creator: Fontana Arte
Fontana Arte Bronzed Metal and Glass Box, Italy 1950s
By Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand
Located in Milan, IT
Rare Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte Bronzed Metal and Glass Box,
Rarely seen on the market.
The glass carries the original Fa label.
Italy 1950s
Ref: Fontana Arte Catalog 6 page 211.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Metal
Box by Fontana Arte, Wood and Glass, 1940s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Brussels, BE
Box by Fontana Arte, Wood and Glass, 1940s
Category
1940s Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass, Wood
20th Century Fontana Arte Decorative Box in Wood and Glass, 50s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
FontanaArte is an Italian company founded in Milan (as Fontana Arte) in 1932 by Luigi Fontana and Giò Ponti and specializing in glass processing and the production of furnishing acce...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass, Wood
Vintage Italian Decorative Box by Fontana Arte 1960s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The "Vintage Italian Decorative Box by Fontana Arte, 1960s" is a captivating piece. Its silver lid and blue crystal glass base, crafte...
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Silver
Gio Ponti & Pietro Chiesa, Unique Cigars Box, Fontana Arte, Italy, 1930
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte, Gio Ponti
Located in Firenze, IT
Unique piece. “Grissinato” turned wood box with decorated blue crystal, blue corrugated crystal lid, hand-decorated. “Pipe smoking man” decoration.
Designed by masters Gio Ponti &...
Category
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Brass
Fontana Arte Rare Box Attributed to Max Ingrand, Marked
By Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Beautiful and rare glass and plated metal box with a wooden lining. Acid Marked in glass as shown Fontana Italy.
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass
Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte Satinwood Glass Box, 1940
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Paris, IDF
Rare Italian Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte decorative box made in Italy in the 1940s. Carved from satinwood, with a thick polished aquamarine glas...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Brass
Fontana Arte Mod. 2004 Box
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milan, IT
Fontana Arte Mod. 2004 box.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Metal
Related Items
Vintage Danish Rosewood Box, 1960s
Located in Asaa, DK
Vintage Danish Rosewood Box, 1960s.
Small decorative box with lid in solid rosewood and black Formica. Beautiful rosewood grain and color.
Probabl...
Category
1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Rosewood
Elegant Malachite Box from the 50s 20th Century
By Europa Antiques
Located in Madrid, ES
Malachite Box
Elegant malachite box from the 50s. It is in perfect condition. Measurements: 21x11x8 cm.
Category
20th Century Italian Art Deco Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Malachite
Italian 1960s Brown Alabaster Boxes
Located in Tarrytown, NY
1960s brown alabaster round boxes with carved handle from Italy. Brown is the only color available.
Category
1960s Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Alabaster
Midcentury Pietro Chiesa Carved Crystal Glass Italian Ashtray for Fontana Arte
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Roma, IT
Amazing midcentury carved crystal glass ashtray. This wonderful item was designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte in Italy during 1960s.
This piece is unique as it has two carved sides and two straight ones and tone of the crystal, that is a very elegant water marine.
A perfect bowl to complete a midcentury-style living room or entrance.
Measures (cms):
width - 20
depth - 20
height - 2
Pietro Chiesa (1892-1948) was an Italian designer who specialised in modernist and Art Deco designs. Chiesa was one of the founding members of FontanaArte which was established in 1932, and as its artistic director, he designed hundreds of items ranging from furniture to objets d’art. A member of the Swiss Ticino family of artists, Chiesa is best known for his glass furnishing pieces, such as the Fontana table.
Fontana Arte (established in 1933) was founded by Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Pietro Chiesa as a premier producer and marketer of furniture, lighting, and furnishing accessories, and distignuished itself applying the highest standards of glass craftsmanship and techniques. Throughout Fontana Arte’s history, its lamps and furniture have been highly sought after due to their superior glass craftsmanship and innovative design.
Saint-Gobain Invests in Luigi Fontanta e Compagni
The origins of Fontana Arte go back to 1881, when Luigi Fontana established Luigi Fontana e Compagni to produce and market sheet glass for the construction industry. Luigi’s success as an entrepreneur in the growing Italian construction sector attracted the attention of the French glass-making company Saint-Gobain, which, in 1910, took a majority stake in the ownership of Luigi Fontana e Compagni transforming it into a “Società Anonima” still under the direction of Luigi Fontana. By the mid-1920s, Fontana e Compagni’s capabilities included the creation of artistic stained glass that was mostly used in functional and decorative settings of churches and cathedrals.
Gio Ponti Becomes Fontana e Compagni’s Artistic Director
In just a few years, the production of such artistic stained-glass products had become of such importance that a different division within the Fontana e Compagni was created to further its development. In 1930, Luigi Fontana met the successful young Milanese architect Gio Ponti, who was then the art director of Richard-Ginori pottery company, and they formed a partnership, under the name of Luigi Fontana SA, for the production of light fixtures, furniture, and furnishing objects. During this initial period, Gio Ponti designed from Fontana Arte the now-iconic 0024 Pendant light (1931) and the Bilia Table Lamp (1931).
Pietro Chiesa, Gio Ponti, and Luigi Fontana Found Fontana Arte
In 1932, Gio Ponti approached Pietro Chiesa to join him and Luigi Fontana and to become Luigi Fontana SA’s artistic director. In 1933, Pietro Chiesa merged his studio, the Bottega di Pietro Chiesa, with Fontana SA, and together Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Chiesa founded Fontana Arte. During Chiesa’s tenure as artistic director, Fontana Arte’s production became rich and varied. It included furniture, tables, mirrors, sculptures, and stained glass, but it was certainly in the lighting sector where Fontana Arte excelled by creating lamps and lights with the highest standards in glass craftsmanship and modern designs. From this period came the Luminator floor lamp, the Cartoccio glass vase, and the Fontana Arte table made out of a single band of bent clear glass, (all designed by Pietro Chiesa, in 1932); and the Naska lamp...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal
H 0.79 in W 7.88 in D 7.88 in
Early 20th Century French Wood Box
Located in Burton, TX
Found in the South of France, this wooden box was handmade in France in the early 20th Century. The piece presents nailhead trim around the edges, a brass handle on the top and a met...
Category
Early 20th Century French Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Wood
Embossed Leather Jewelry Box Italy 1960s
Located in Den Haag, NL
Very nice jewelry box. Gold embossed leather. Cognac color.
Signed. Made in Italy. 1960s.
Category
1960s Italian Rococo Revival Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Leather
'Scalpellato' Glass Dish by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, Italy, circa 1935
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in London, GB
A circa 1930 ‘scalpellato’ handcut glass dish designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. The beautiful aquamarine coloured glass was produced using the ‘scalpellato’ or ‘chiselled’ ...
Category
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass
H 0.99 in W 6.7 in D 7.29 in
Marquetry Wood Box with Mosaic Bone Inlays, Middle East, circa 1940s
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Exquisite handcrafted Khatam wood box with micro mosaic marquetry design, an Ancient Persian technique of inlaying. Moorish style box features geometric inlays of wood and bone. Art...
Category
1940s West Asian Moorish Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Wood, Bone
1940s Art Deco Baccarat Powder Box
By Baccarat
Located in LA CIOTAT, FR
A charming 1940s Art Deco crystal lidded powder box, from the renowned glass manufacturer Baccarat, and originally used as a container for loose face powder...
Category
20th Century French Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal
Decorative Cigar Box in Brass, Malachite and Wood, Mexico, 1960s
By Los Castillos
Located in Rome, IT
Beautiful hinged inlaid malachite and sodalite (or lapis lazuli) brass metal box with wood interior.
Two roosters grace the lid. The metalsmiths of Taxco, Mexico were known for p...
Category
1960s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Malachite, Metal, Brass
Pair of 1950s Italian Brass and Glass Candlesticks Fontana Arte Style
By Fontana Arte
Located in NUEMBRECHT, NRW
Beautiful pair of Italian Mid-Century Modern brass pedestal candleholders with glass bases in the manner of Fontana Arte.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Brass
Free Shipping
H 9.5 in W 3.5 in D 3.5 in
Green Glass Pen Holder by Fontana Arte, 1950s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Green glass base with the black Bakelite and bras pen holder.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass
Previously Available Items
Fontana Arte Coins Box in Wood and Glass, Italy, 1940s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milan, IT
Splendid Fontana Arte box in wood and glass with metal coins on the lid.
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Brass
20th Century Fontana Arte Object Box in Wood and Ground Painted Glass '50s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
Very beautiful box designed in '50s and produced by Fontana Arte. The box is in wood and has a very peculiar top cover in ground painted glass. Perfect for keeping jewelry or other o...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass, Wood
H 2.37 in W 7.49 in D 4.14 in
Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte Rare Light Blue Beveled Mirrored Glass Box, 1930s
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in New York, NY
Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte rare light blue colored beveled mirrored glass box with cedar wood interior, Italy, circa 1938. Simple form but elegant and rare Chiesa box...
Category
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal
H 2.5 in W 7 in D 5 in
Jewelry Italian Box by Fontana Arte in Blue Art Glass, 1950s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
A wonderful blue art glass box made by Fontana Arte, Italy in 1950. The box is made with a wallet opening lid, and in each of its facades we find beautiful glass inserts of Fontana A...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Brass
Italian Jewelry Box by Fontana Arte in Rose Gold Glass, 1950s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
A wonderful rose gold or antique rose crystal box made by Fontana Arte, Italy in 1950. The lid of the box is made of crystal glass with faceted or carved weave...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Brass
Lidded Box by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, Italy, circa 1938
By Fontana Arte, Pietro Chiesa
Located in New York, NY
Round wooden box, topped by a glass lid comprising three stacked glass discs, held together by a brass handle.
Category
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Brass
Fontana Arte Box
By Fontana Arte
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
1960s mirrored box by Fontana Arte.
Category
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Mirror, Wood
Fontana Arte Mod. 1132 Box
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milan, IT
Fontana Arte mod. 1132 box
Ref. Fontana Arte catalogue p.214.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass, Wood
Oval-Form Lidded Box in Crystal and Brass
By Fontana Arte
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
This stylish and exquisite box was created by the iconic firm of Fontana Arte and dates to the late 20th century. With its clean lines and simple form this piece could be used on one...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Crystal, Brass
Box by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, 1936
By Fontana Arte, Pietro Chiesa
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
This is a box designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, 1936.
It has a mirrored top and the internal part is in cedar tree wood.
Category
1930s Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Cedar, Mirror
Lidded Box by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Lidded box by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. Carved Swiss pine detail. Made in Italy, circa 1940s.
Category
1940s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Decorative Boxes
Materials
Glass, Pine
Fontana Arte decorative boxes for sale on 1stDibs.
Fontana Arte decorative boxes are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Fontana Arte decorative boxes, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original decorative boxes by Fontana Arte were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the mid-20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider decorative boxes by Aldo Londi, Ottaviani, and Romeo Rega. Prices for Fontana Arte decorative boxes can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $1,200 and can go as high as $10,012, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $3,833.
Creators Similar to Fontana Arte
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Fontana Arte Furniture
Fontana Arte Cigar Boxes and Humidors
Fontana Arte Chandeliers and Pendants
Fontana Arte Table Lamps
Fontana Arte Wall Lights and Sconces
Fontana Arte Wall Mirrors
Fontana Arte Floor Lamps
Fontana Arte Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Fontana Arte Flush Mount
Fontana Arte Lanterns
Fontana Arte Bowls and Baskets
Fontana Arte Racks and Stands
Fontana Arte Ashtrays