1930s Dressing Table Mirror

This 1930s Italian bench is so over-scaled, and monumental in appearance, that it seems to have been made for the large room it was destined, rather than the comfort of a typical sitter. As such, it would function equally well as a low side table or a high cocktail table. We’ll allow the buyer to determine its use. The designer was Pierluigi Colli, and the fabricator Martinotti, the Turin furniture and interior decorating firm that was established in 1831, and exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair. Colli’s family owned a textile company that supplied Martinotti with upholstery fabrics, suggesting nepotism had something to do with his being hired as the firm's director in 1926. Nevertheless, he proved himself worthy as a designer and a businessman. Having studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, he befriended leading French designers, and arranged for Martinotti to retail Lalique glass and Jean Perzel lighting. In addition, the quality of their work, and Colli’s dedication to the modern design movement, prompted Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, and Gino Levi-Montalcini, among others, to have Martinotti fabricate some of their furniture. Colli’s claim to fame, however, is his own work as a designer, and his ability to master the vocabularies of every trend from Art Deco to midcentury modern. During the Great Depression, when nearly every nation floundered economically, fascist Italy...

This late 1930s Venini chandelier has two rings of curved-glass elements suspended from a brass frame. It appears to glow magically from within because the glass elements are infuse...

Emilio Terry -- architect, interior, and furniture designer -- was the inventor and sole-practitioner of what was drolly referred to as his “Louis XVII style...

The French designer Jean-Boris Lacroix was best known in the 1930s, as he is today, as a designer of lighting fixtures. Our lamp consists of a circle, a sphere, and a cylinder that t...

Véronese was established in 1931 by Marcel Barbier. The firm was unique in having a design office in Paris and a glasswork on Murano. They developed a product line of clear translucent glass that was promoted through extensive advertising, and sold from striking modern showrooms in Paris and Nice. Their master glassblower was Giovanni Veronese, but the name was probably meant to evoke the 17th century Venetian painter Paolo Veronese, who depicted glassware and other luxury goods. Launched during the Depression, Véronese devised a lean business model. Rather than having an in-house art director they commissioned designs from independent architects, like Marcel Roux...

A translucent alabaster lamp of the same model was featured in the July 1938 issue of Domus magazine, which was established and edited by Gio Ponti. They were made in the Volterra wo...

A chic American Art Deco 1930s steel dressing mirror raised on a maplewood base with ebonized highlights; the round beveled mirror within an adjustable steel frame raised on a rectil...

Exceptional dressing table by André Sornay. Restored “Certificate of Authenticity” from Thierry Roche, French expert for André Sornay.  

A stained birch table mirror, designed and produced in Finland, 1930s.

A brass table mirror with inlayed decoration, designed and produced in Italy, c. 1930s. Stand adds 4.75" to depth

A brass table mirror designed and produced in Italy, 1930s.

A small brass table mirror designed and produced in Denmark, 1930s.