Lot 260: - A very fine Italian polychrome painted and parcel-gilded console table and mirror, by Francesco Bozzelli (active c. 1783-1793)Piedmontese late 18th century

the mirror with an arched cresting centered by a female mask suspending ribbon-tied floral swags flanked by a bracket with a divided rectangular plate within a foliate carved border, the stiles with trails of flowers and leaves, the console of demi-lune form with a fossilised black marble top above a leaf carved and beaded frieze drawer centred by a lion mask, flanked by panels of entwined foliage on a boldly scrolled acanthus leaf carved support terminating in a scrolled and a block foot

mirror: 198cm. high, 126cm. wide; 6ft.6in., 4ft. ½in.; console table: 96cm. high, 132cm. wide; 3ft.1¾in., 4ft.4in.

Almost certainly made for the camera da letto of the Duchess of Aosta, Castello di Rivoli, Piedmont

Comparative Literature:
G. Ferraris, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo e la scultura decorativa in legno a Torino nel periodo neoclassico (1770-1830), Cavallermaggiore, 1991, pp. 150-151.
E.Colle, Il Mobile Neoclassico in Italia, Arredi e Decorazioni d'Interni dal 1775 al 1800, Milan, 2005, pp. 384-386.G.Morazzoni, Il Mobile neoclassico Italiano, Milano,1955, Tav. CCLXXXIII. This magnificent and unusual console table and mirror relate very closely to a design by Randone for the interior decoration of the camera da letto of the Duchessa d' Aosta on the second floor of the Castello di Rivoli, illustrated by Ferraris, op. cit., p. 150, plate CXXXIXa-b, showing one wall with a panel above the door-reproduced here in fig.1. It shows the stucco work with an identical female mask suspending floral swags to that on the cresting of the offered mirror. Ferraris, op. cit., p. 151, plate CXLVI, illustrates part of the stucco decoration from the bedroom with the mask now missing but identical in the treatment of the ribbon-tied floral swags to those on the cresting of this mirror-reproduced here in fig. 2. This leads to the conclusion that this mirror and console table must have been part of the original furnishings of this room due to their similarity with the design for and the stucco work in this room in Castello di Rivoli. Francesco Bozzelli is documented as having worked for the Royal House of Savoy as well as for the Counts of Masino and was an exceptionally skilled carver. He was known to have specialised in the carving of wall panelling as well as console tables and mirrors many of which were polychrome pauinted in the typical Piedmontese manner.
It is also worth mentioning that the form of this console table with its boldly scrolled central support is typical of Genoese neo-classical console tables in the latter part of the 18th century. It is interesting to consider a late 18th century Genoese console table, illustrated by Colle, op. cit., p. 385, no. 89, in the Galleria di Palazzo Rosso, Genoa. The console table together with four corner console tables was probably made for the bedroom or the Salotto del Camino which was profusely decorated with acanthus leaf stucco decoration in the apartments of Anton Guilio III Brignole Sale, which were designed by Gaetano Cantoni. A design for a related console with addorsed scrolls on the support also carved with acanthus, is illustrated by Colle, op. cit., p. 384, (Castello Sforzesco, Gabinetto dei Disegni, Fondo Amati), reproduced here in fig.3.