Italian Bench

Black inner and outer wood trim.

It has a wonderful old feeling. The wood is beautifully patinated and worn.

Stamp says: Arte Italica, Made in Italy.

Seguso Murano Italian glass vase, beautiful twisted fluted design with silver leaf suspended in the glass. The thickness of the glass allows this v...

Wooden bench and black metal foot. Wear due to time and age of the bench. FOR SHIPPING, REQUEST US FOR RECEIVE THE BEST PRICE

Wooden bench and metal foot. Wear due to time and age of the bench. For shipping, request us for receive the best price.

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...

Wooden bench made by an Italian craftsman in the 1950s. Wear due to time and age of the bench. For shipping, request us for receive the best price.