Gaetano Pesce - Design London Thursday, October 17, 2019 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private collection, Genoa

  • Literature

    Domus, no. 514, September 1972, p. 38
    Emilio Ambasz, ed., Italy: The New Domestic Landscape, Achievements and Problems of Italian Design, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, p. 97
    France Vanlaethem, Gaetano Pesce: Architecture, Design, Art, Milan, 1989, p. 28
    Marisa Bartolucci and Raul Cabra, Gaetano Pesce, San Francisco, 2003, p. 17
    Giuliana Gramigna, Repertorio del Design Italiano 1950-1980, vol. 1, Turin, 2003, p. 197
    Anty Pansera, Bracciodiferro: Gaetano Pesce - Alessandro Mendini 1971-1975, exh. cat., Biblioteca Umanistica dell'Incoronata, Milan, 2013, front cover, pp. 31-32, 34-35, 70-82

  • Catalogue Essay

    Gaetano Pesce named the present towering floor lamp after the ancient Ammonite god Moloch, to whom certain Levantine tribes sacrificed children by fire. Fed by the offspring of its own progenitor, Pesce’s lamp derives from designer Jac Jacobsen’s ‘L-1’ adjustable table lamp (1937), of which Norwegian manufacturer Luxo has produced more than 25 million examples. The ‘Moloch’ presides everywhere at the same time, seeing, allowing us to see, at the end of its spring-balanced arm.

145

Prototype 'Moloch' adjustable floor lamp

circa 1971
Painted aluminium, aluminium, anodised aluminium, steel, painted steel, wood.
As shown: 260 cm (102 3/8 in.) high
Manufactured by Bracciodiferro S.r.L., Genoa, Italy. Prototype no. 000-F from the edition of 6 known prototypes. Stem impressed MOLOCH/RIDISEGNO DI GAETANO PESCE/PRODUZIONE BRACCIODIFERRO-/PRIMO CENTINAIO/ESEMPLARE N.000-F.

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for £87,500

Contact Specialist
Antonia King
Interim Head of Sale
+44 20 7901 7944
antonia.king@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 17 October 2019