A South Italian giltwood and reverse-painted glass sofa, Sicily, late 18th-early 19th century, attributed to Michele Milana

Probably commissioned by the Prince of Palagonia, Salvatore Gravina e Cottone (1742-1826) for the Villa Palagonia, Bagheria, Sicily;

Subsequently purchased by the Earl of Derby, Derby House, London, circa 1910 from Lenygon;

Christie’s London, 26 July 1940, Earl of Derby, lot 84 (a set of twenty chairs and four sofas);

Mrs. Violet van der Elst, Grantham Castle, Lincs;

Christie’s London, 8 April 1948, lot 114 (eleven chairs and three sofas);

Russell McKinnon, Los Angeles, 1964, purchased through Adolph Loewi;

James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Christie’s New York, 24 September 2020, lot 1002.

RELATED LITERATURE

M. Giarrizzo - A. Rotolo, Mobili e mobilieri nella Sicilia del Settecento, Palermo, 1992, pp.124 (fig.78), 134-135.

M. Giarrizzo - A. Rotolo, Il Mobile siciliano, Palermo, 2004, pp.78-80 (fig.129).

R. Scaduto, Villa Palagonia. Storia e restauro, Bagheria (Pa) 2007, p.34 (fig.26).

A. Iolanda Lima, Realtà/Villa Palagonia, Palermo, 1971, p.13, fig.7.

E. Colle, Il mobile neoclassico in Italia, Milan, 2005, p.56, fig.2.

A. Gonzalez – Palacios, Il tempio del gusto (unique volume), Venise, 2000, pp.402-403, 408 (fig.2).