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Gio Ponti Designed Diamond Sterling Silver Flatware Set for 12 or 16, 1958

About the Item

Read about ponti below At a recent Sotheby's one owner auction of offerings from renowned New York City dealer Wyeth, this set sold for $20,000.00. Shaped and multi-faceted like the cut jewel for which it is named, The Diamond sterling flatware pattern designed by Gio Ponti was introduced in 1958 by Reed & Barton of Taunton, MA. It is considered by many admirers and collectors to be the quintessential modern "jewelry" of the dining table. The appeal of The Diamond has been heightened since the mid-1980's by the revival of interest in mid-century modernism--from furniture by Charles and Ray Eames to postwar suburban ranch houses--that has ignited the desire of a younger generation for the sleek, undecorated, sculptural patterns of the 1950s and 1960s. Being offered is an important, large and rare 106 piece set of Gio Ponti sterling silver flatware--in the diamond pattern--12 place settings, total of 96 place pieces plus 12 serving pieces for a total of 108 pieces in the set, by Reed & Barton; Barton of Taunton, MASS, the pattern considered by many to be the quintessential modern jewelry of the dining table, circa 1958. This set can also be built to 16 place settings. Please inquire. Renowned Italian architect and Industrial Designer Gio Ponti (1891-1979) was invited by Reed & Barton to create a new contemporary flatware pattern. Ponti agreed and proposed six possible designs, of which one was chose. It would take several interactions over four years of development by Reed & Barton's design staff before Ponti's design evolved into The Diamond pattern of 1958. Photographs of the drawings at Reed & Barton document the course of the design process. The mid-1950's was certainly a heady time full of optimistic experimentation in the silverware industry. Each piece fits comfortably in the hand and has perfect balance. Each piece is signed Reed and Barton. There are no monograms and each piece has been perfectly polished. The set includes the rare, often impossible to find, soup/dessert place piece and rare serving pieces. The silver is of heavy guage/weight. The set fits nicely in a sleek, handsome brown canvas zip case which is included in the sale. About Gio Ponti (Designer) An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian Modernism. Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, lamps and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971). Place pieces 12 dinner/luncheon knives 8 3/4 inches. 12 butter knives 6 3/4 inches. 12 dinner/luncheon forks 7 1/2 inches. 12 soup/dessert spoons 6 7/8 inches. 12 salad/dessert forks 6 7/8 inches. 12 teaspoons 6 inches. 12 cocktail forks 5 3/4 inches. 1 bon bon spoon 4 3/4 inches Serving pieces Large serving spoon 9 1/4 inches. Pie/cake slice 10 3/4 inches. Serving spoon 8 1/8 inches. Slotted serving spoon 8 1/8 inches. Meat forks 8 1/8 inches. Gravy ladle 7 7/8 inches. Cheese serving knife 6 inches. Sugar/jam spoon 6 inches. Lemon fork 5 3/4 inches. Butter fork 4 1/2 inches. Master butter/cheese knife 7 1/4 inches. Multiple serving pieces are available. Please inquire. No monogram. Marked as illustrated in photo. (Please see the May/June 2007 issue of 'Silver Magazine' for an important, scholarly article about the pattern and its history written by silver historians Jewel Stern and Dr. William P. Hood, Jr. and Jewel Stern's book 'Modernism in American Silver, 20th Century Design." The pattern is also in the collection of The Dallas Museum of Art. More about Gio Ponti (Designer) An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian Modernism. Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, lamps and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971), were erected in 14 countries. Through Domus, the magazine he founded in 1928, Ponti brought attention to virtually every significant movement and creator in the spheres of modern art and design. The questing intelligence Ponti brought to Domus is reflected in his work: as protean as he was prolific, Ponti’s style can’t be pegged to a specific genre. In the 1920s, as artistic director for the Tuscan porcelain maker Richard Ginori, he fused old and new; his ceramic forms were modern, but decorated with motifs from Roman antiquity. In pre-war Italy, modernist design was encouraged, and after the conflict, Ponti — along with designers such as Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, Marco Zanuso — found a receptive audience for their novel, idiosyncratic work. Ponti’s typical furniture forms from the period, such as the wedge-shaped “Distex” chair, are simple, gently angular, and colorful; equally elegant and functional. In the 1960s and ’70s, Ponti’s style evolved again as he explored biomorphic shapes, and embraced the expressive, experimental designs of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Joe Columbo and others. Ponti's signature furniture piece — the one by which he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Germany’s Vitra Design Museum and elsewhere — is the sleek “Superleggera” chair, produced by Cassina starting in 1957. (The name translates as “superlightweight” — advertisements featured a model lifting it with one finger.) Ponti had a playful side, best shown in a collaboration he began in the late 1940s with the graphic artist Piero Fornasetti. Ponti furnishings were decorated with bright finishes and Fornasetti's whimsical lithographic transfer prints of things such as butterflies, birds or flowers; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses a 1950 secretary from their “Architetturra” series, which feature case pieces covered in images of building interiors and facades. The grandest project Ponti and Fornasetti undertook, however, lies on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean: the interiors of the luxury liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956. Widely praised retrospectives at the Queens Museum of Art in 2001 and at the Design Museum London in 2002 sparked a renewed interest in Ponti among modern design aficionados. (Marco Romanelli’s monograph written for the London show, offers a fine overview of Ponti’s work.) Today, a wide array of Ponti’s designs are snapped up by savvy collectors who want to give their homes a touch of Italian panache and effortless chic.

Dimensions:
Height: 1 in (2.54 cm)Width: 1 in (2.54 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Sterling Silver
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1960
Condition:
Excellent, near pristine condition.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: U1101118558486