Stipi a Bambocci

Stipi a Bambocci (singular: "Stipo a Bambocci") describes a special type of antique furniture.A so called Stipo a Bambocci is a writing cabinet, which was made during the Renaissance in Upper Italy and which can be locked by a fall-front.The wood used for construction is walnut as well as burr-walnut and partly even the costly imported Caucasian walnut.

Bambocci

The characteristic features of the Stipi a Bambocci are the carved small, chubby Bambocci-figures. In the history of furniture-design these cabinets appear unique in their decoration through their shape and design.One some surviving examples the Bambocci-figures correspond with each other and are composed in a certain iconographical context, such as the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Paradise on one Stipo a Bambocci in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.

Workshop

On the basis of new it was possible to identify a workshop, which developed and produced the Stipi a Bambocci as a new type of writing-cabinets [ [http://www.weltkunst.de/ Weltkunst] : Pummelchen macht gute Figur, Heft 5/ Mai 2008, S. 28-29] .

Period and localization

The earliest Stipi a Bambocci appeared around or shortly after 1560 in Genoa/ the region of Liguria. After having gained the interest of the nobility the demand for Stipi a Bambocci started to grow and the production of individual cabinets (in the sense of the iconography) began.The end of the first decade of the 17th century marks also the end of the creation of the Stipi a Bambocci

Surviving pieces

Today only very few original Stipi a Bambocci (<12 pieces) survive. The are in distinguished private collections and museums, e.g. in Milan in the Museo Poldi-Pezzoli, Bagatti-Valsecchi and in the Castello Sforzesco.

Literature

External links

* [http://www.milanocastello.it/intro.html Castello Sforzesco]
* [http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org/ Museo Bagatti-Valsecchi]
* [http://www.museopoldipezzoli.it/ Museo Poldi-Pezzoli]