Ettore Sottsass, Jr. - Design London Tuesday, October 31, 2023 | Phillips

Design

London Auction 31 October 2023

  • Provenance

    Private collection, Florence

  • Literature

    Ettore Sottsass, 'Sottsass a Stoccolma', Domus, no. 474, May 1969, p. 54
    Emilio Ambasz, Italy: The New Domestic Landscape: Achievements and Problems of Italian Design, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, p. 50
    Giuliana Gramigna, Repertorio 1950/1980, Milan, 1985, p. 294
    Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography, London, 1993, p. 116
    Hans Höger, Ettore Sottsass Jun. Designer, Artist, Architect, Tübingen, 1993, p. 87
    Par Milco Carboni, Ettore Sottsass Jr. ’60-’70, exh. cat., FRAC Centre, Orléans, 2006, pp. 114-15

  • Catalogue Essay

    The present model desk was made exclusively to order from the Poltronova catalogue until the mid-1970s, and only a few examples were ever executed. The original design was conceived by Sottsass with white and green vertical stripes laminate on the exterior, with a white interior, as seen in present lot. Colour variations included pink and white stripes, also with a white interior; green and white stripes applied only on the front and back elevation, with all other sides in white; or entirely white monochrome. The ‘Nefertiti’ model desk was included in the main exhibitions on Ettore Sottsass’ work of this period, notably the ‘Miljo for en ny Planet’ exhibition at the National Museum of Stockholm in 1969, and ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’ at MoMA, New York in 1972, the latter acquiring the writing desk for their permanent collection in the same year.

83

Ettore Sottsass, Jr.

'Nefertiti' writing desk

circa 1967
Plastic-laminated wood, steel.
110.2 x 126.9 x 35.2 cm (43 3/8 x 49 7/8 x 13 7/8 in.)
Manufactured by Poltronova, Agliana, Italy with laminate by Abet Laminati, Bra, Italy.

Estimate
£40,000 - 60,000 ‡

Contact Specialist

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

 

Design

London Auction 31 October 2023