340. Gio Ponti
1891-1979
“Diavolessa,” or “Cut-Out Thought,” 1978 Brass. 27 5/8 x 24 x 4 1/4 in. (70.2 x 61 x 10.8 cm) Produced by Sabattini, Italy. From the production of 2. Incised with ‘La Diavolessa’/Gio Ponti 1978 per Lino Sabattini/Sabattini Argenteria. Together with a photo of the work signed by Lino Sabattini and a certifcate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives. Estimate $10,000-15,000 Provenance Lino Sabattini, Italy Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature Lisa Licitra Ponti, Gio Ponti: The Complete Works 19231978, London, 1990, p. 262 for the example from Gio Ponti’s collection Marco Romanelli, Gio Ponti: A World, Milan, 2002, p. 89 for the example from Gio Ponti’s collection
The present lot, formerly in the collection of its maker Lino Sabattini (b. 1925), is one of two examples produced. The other, which belonged to its designer Gio Ponti, and thence by descent to his daughter Lisa Ponti, is now in a private collection. Sabattini, a master metalsmith, began his long career at the age of fourteen in a brass workshop in Como. Inspired by Gio Ponti’s architecture and design magazine Domus—Sabattini’s “Bible”— the latter moved to Milan and established a small basement “laboratorio” where he produced objects and tableware. Ponti himself wandered in one day, and so began a long friendship punctuated by collaborations in silver and brass.
Original drawing for the present lot. © Gio Ponti Archives.
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