Cabinet (c. 1895): Art, History and Details

Cabinet (c. 1895) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Carlo Bugatti (Italian, 1856–1940).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In both form and decoration this cabinet typifies the work of Carlo Bugatti. Asymmetrical, with a tower-like element at one side, there are Islamic-inspired ornaments throughout its design, notably the onion-shaped arches in the upper half of the cabinet. Japanese influence is also evident in the white metal inlays and in the sepia-painted parchment panels. The cabinet displays an extensive vocabulary of other decorative devices, including the partial ebonized frame, the turned wooden ornaments, metal reliefs, mirrored and green glass, and silk tassels. Despite their diversity, Bugatti organized all these elements into a coherent design.

Object facts

• Title: Cabinet
• Date: c. 1895
• Creator attribution: Carlo Bugatti (Italian, 1856–1940)
• Culture: France, late 19th Century
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: wood with metal inlays and painted parchment, glass doors and mirror
• Dimensions: Overall: 224.5 x 141 x 55.3 cm (88 3/8 x 55 1/2 x 21 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Furniture
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1984.177

A detail from the museum

Carlo Bugatti's sons achieved illustrious careers of their own. Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916) became a celebrated sculptor, and Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) manufactured luxurious automobiles and racing cars.

Collection credit

Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor, New York

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dempsey, James H. “The Annual Report for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 4 (April 1985): 242–298.
• Hawley, Henry. "Some Furniture and Silver of Carlo Bugatti." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 5 (1992): 130-43.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.