Il Ponte Auction in Milan: Fontana and Borsani Works Lead Decorative Arts Sale

Il Ponte Casa d'Aste in Milan will hold a three-session auction of 20th-century decorative arts and design on December 18-19, 2025, featuring over 400 lots. The first session highlights three works by Lucio Fontana, created alone or with Osvaldo Borsani: a console (estimate €80,000-100,000), a chandelier (€25,000-35,000), and a plaster portrait (€18,000-20,000). The console, one of only three known examples, was made for Casa G. in Milan in 1950-51 by Arredamenti Borsani di Varedo, combining black granite, wood, and painted and gilded plaster with a ribbon-and-putti motif. The chandelier, from 1949-51, echoes Fontana's Spatial Environments with indirect light and organic plaster scrolls. The plaster portrait, dated 1939, possibly depicts Gianlorenzo Bernini and comes from the studio of a painter-collector friend. Later sessions include furniture, glass, ceramics, lighting, and drawings from French Art Nouveau masters to rationalist designs by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini. Stefano Andrea Poli, head of the department, notes that 20th-century Italian artists and architects often collaborated across disciplines, with Gio Ponti promoting integration since the 1920s and Fontana experimenting with architectural settings in the 1930s. The auction preview runs December 12-14 at Via Giacomo Medici del Vascello 8, Milan.