Page 194 - Christies Alsdorf Collection PART 2 Sept 24 2020 NYC

IMPORTANT SUITE SICILIAN
AN OF

REVERSE-PAINTED GLASS FURNITURE

(LOTS 1002-1004)

With reverse-painted glass panels painted in imitation of various hardstones including COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Sicilian jasper in reds, yellows and greens, and lapis lazuli, this settee and four chairs are D. O. Kisluk-Grosheide et. al, European Furniture in the
part of the celebrated suite reputedly made for the Prince of Palagonia for the Drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, Highlights of the Collection,
Room of the Villa Palagonia at Bagheria, near Palermo, Sicily. However, as A. New York, 2006, pp. 214-215 figs. 120 and 90.
Gonzalez-Palacios noted in his ‘The Prince of Palagonia, Goethe and Glass Furniture’, A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Tempio de Gusto, vol. II, Milan,
Burlington Magazine, August 1971, the monogram does not correspond with the prince’s 1984, p. 275, no. 629.
initials and may emanate from a different commission. The Sicilian origin, however, OTHER EXAMPLES
seems to be validated by the closely related suite of furniture made for La Favorita, the One side chair and one settee are in the collection of
pavilion built for King Ferdinand IV near Palermo circa 1799. Although confirmation The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gifts of
of the original commission still remains a mystery, the precious quality of the labor John P. Richardson, 1992, (1992.173.1 and 1992.173.2).
intensive construction points to a likely commission by a powerful and wealthy Sicilian Two side chairs are in the Art Institute of Chicago (op.
family as display pieces. cit. Gonzalez-Palacios, p. 275, no. 629).
The suite was subsequently bought by the Earl of Derby circa 1910 from Lenygon’s One side chair is in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk,
for Derby House, Stratford Place, London. Pieces from this suite are in various private Frankfurt.
collections including three pairs of side chairs sold Sotheby’s, New York, 28 April Two settees and two chairs are at the Ringling Museum
1990, lots 175-177. In addition, chairs from this suite were copied, likely by Lenygon’s, of Art, Sarasota, Florida, Gifts of A. Everett Austin, 1955
and sold Christie’s, London, 27 May 1993, lot 181. (SN1799, SN1800, SN1801 and SN1802).

(detail)

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