Succeeding Pietro Chiesa, Max Ingrand was appointed as the artistic director of Fontana Arte in 1954. Ingrand, who had achieved international recognition for his stained glass designs, was nominated for the position by Gio Ponti, with who the French designer would develop a great mutual esteem through their collaboration. Guided by Ingrand’s innovative spirit, Fontana Arte established a semi-industrial production model, whilst maintaining the company’s strong tradition of exquisite craftsmanship. Fontana Arte introduced new lighting solutions to the market, and upon the encouragement of Ponti, developed the use of coloured glass in their designs, all of which reflected Ingrand’s interest in the study of light and its effects within an architectural space.

Modernising the traditional form of the chandelier, the present lot features individual pieces of profiled clear glass surrounding a central light source of opaque glass, creating a composition that articulates and diffuses the light. Whilst giving prominence to the expert craftsmanship of the glasswork, Ingrand also incorporated industrial materials, such as painted tubular steel, elegantly combining the modern with the traditional. In his monograph of the designer, Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier describes Ingrand’s lighting as ‘transcending its purely functional purpose to become an iconic object boundless of time and fashion’. Moreover, through his approach to materials, such as the use of coloured glass as illustrated in the delicate coloured glass ‘petals’ of the ‘Dahlia’ series (see Lot 53), Ingrand demonstrated the potential for artificial lighting to be as resplendent as natural light.