Ettore Sottsass, Jr. - Design London Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | Phillips

Design

London Auction 13 November 2024

  • Provenance

    Private collection, Milan

  • Literature

    Ettore Sottsass Jr., 'Un nuovo catalogo di specchi', Domus, no. 339, February 1958, p. 41

  • Catalogue Essay

    —By Fulvio Ferrari, author of Ettore Sottsass: Tutta la Ceramica and Sottsass: 1000 Ceramics

    The multiplicity and variety of Ettore Sottsass's creations never cease to amaze. However, despite their breadth, his works always maintain a recognisable form, connected to a precise language balanced equally across a wide repertoire of architecture and object design.

    If we consider this outsider architect as a pure artist, we could describe the present lot as the work of a non-figurative expressionist. In the late 1950s, his paintings, ceramics, and more rare rugs, as well as exhibition designs, expressed a constructivism based ''on the colour and luminosity of painting''.

    In light of this aspect of Sottsass's philosophical approach to design, what better opportunity for the expression of luminosity than a request to create his own signature collection of mirrors?

    The glass mosaic, used as a composition of rhythmically arranged polychrome pixels in rectangular shapes, represents a completely original approach with no parallels to the existing product lines of major mirror manufacturers such as Fontana Arte or Cristal Art.

    Transcending form, what shines through is the intellectual vibrancy with which Sottsass approached a seemingly trivial yet challenging theme: designing a mirror frame. He wrote during those years that his ''nature leans more towards expression than rationality''. This bold expression is evident in the plastic composition of the luminous and chromatic ceramic-glass materials of this rare and unprecedented object.

116

Ettore Sottsass, Jr.

Rare early mirror

1958
Glazed ceramic tiles with glass inlay, mirrored glass, maple.
60.2 x 60.2 x 3.8 cm (23 3/4 x 23 3/4 x 1 1/2 in.)
Produced by Santambrogio & de Berti, Lissone, Italy. Reverse with manufacturer's paper label printed CUIVRO GLACE/SPECCHIO GALVORAMATO/SANTAMBROGIO & DE BERTI/LISSONE/VIA S. MICHELE DEL CARSO.37/REGISTRATO and stamped 19 Giu. 1958.

Estimate
£14,000 - 18,000 ‡

Sold for £15,240

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com
 

Design

London Auction 13 November 2024