Italian Biomorphic Alabaster Cigar Ashtray

T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Biomorphic cocktail table w Interesting Anecdote of Isamu Noguchi. Cocktail table designed by T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings for Widdcomb constructed of solid carved maple sculptural base and biomorphic glass top. If you have not read the story of the infamous meeting between T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings and Isamu Noguchi you should, it would be worth your time. Shortly after Noguchi created the sculpted wood and glass coffee table in 1939 for the president of the MOMA, Conger Goodyear, he had a chance meeting in Hawaii with Gibbings and provided Gibbings a plastic mockup of a coffee table but never heard back from him. A few years after the meeting while Noguchi was voluntarily interred in a WW2 Japanese-American internment camp in Potsdam, AZ, Noguchi saw in a design publication the built example of the mockup he had provided Gibbings in Hawaii a few years earlier but represented as a T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings' design. He contacted the British designer asking for compensation and was basically dismissed being told "anyone can design a three leg coffee table...

Beautiful floor lamp constructed with solid brass rods with alabaster shade on solid brass X-base. Lamp is in excellent original condition with the original shade.

A phenomenal early Italian modernist server in sculpted Italian walnut with hand-carved mahogany bases, black milk glass top, hand-forged solid brass ...

Early and important Tomaso Buzzi dining room server cabinet embellished with ornately detailed marquetry depicting the entrance to the ‘Bosphorus Straits’. The artwork is an imaginative rendition of one of the most economically and geopolitically important locations on the planet, namely, the vital trade route between East and West through the ancient city port of Constantinople or modern-day Istanbul. The piece reflects the influences of various historic Empires in the region, including Egypt in North Africa to the North West, and The Greek and Roman Empires to the North East, and the Turks to the East. The scene portrays a time when countless battles occurred in these provinces in order to control the flow of Maritime trade between the Continents of the Northeastern Hemisphere and The Orient or the Far East, along the ‘silk road’. The illustration includes numerous architectural icons including the Pyramids of Giza, Roman Colosseums, Roman Aqueducts, Greek Acropolis style buildings, The Galata Tower, The Obelisk of Theodosius, Rumelifeneri Castle, and The Blue Mosque of Istanbul amongst others. A variety of seafaring vessels, marine life, and geological landmarks are also included in the panorama. This masterwork was executed by Buzzi during his tenure at the school of arts and crafts in Sao Paulo Brazil in the late 1920s. This was during the time he joined the "Novecento Milanese" Group and began to collaborate with Gio Ponti on the newly developed Design Magazine, Domus. The cabinet was showcased as a centerpiece in the 8th Triennale of Modern Decorative Arts in Monza, Italy in 1930. It is well documented and retains the original brass plaque from the Institutional Authority of the Arts in Brazil. A copy of a promotional postcard from the exhibition signed by Buzzi and featuring this cabinet is part of the Buzzi Archive. Crafted from indigenous Brazilian...

Beautiful coatstand by Piero Fornasetti, constructed of solid brass and bronze-colored steel. The coatstand is very elegant, Art Nouveau in design is in very good original condition ...

Iconic coffee table designed by Gio Ponti for Singer & Sons in Italian walnut with exotic Labradorite top.

Indian plates. Very good condition. Dimensions: Larger plate diameter 20 cm less 12 cm.

Cigar Ashtray attributed to Bitossi marked Italy on the bottom, circa 1965 great color, glaze and patina some loss of glaze through out which just more Bohemiam character

Murano "Sommerso" glass ashtray in red and green colors. Design presumably by Alessandro Mandruzzato. Venice, Italy ca. 1960.      

Faceted "Sommerso" Murano ashtray / bowl made of purple glass submerged into blue glass. Flavio Poli for Seguso Venice, Italy 1960's.

A monumental incredibly unique vintage Italian marble ashtray, circa 1970. Featuring an undulating edge with ten rivulets and a carved out biomorphic center shape, this piece is one-...

An adorable Italian genuine alabaster hand-carved ashtray with irregular shapes and beautiful colors from light beige to gray. Italy, circa the 1950s...