Live Auction 2868The Decorative Arts Sale
A SET OF FIVE 'PARENTESI' PULLY LAMPS
Lot 231

A SET OF FIVE 'PARENTESI' PULLY LAMPS

DESIGNED BY ACHILLE CASTIGLIONI AND PIO MANZÚ IN 1970, PRODUCED BY FLOS, ITALY, LAST QUARTER 20TH CENTURY

Closed5 October 2011

Price Realised

EUR 687

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A SET OF FIVE 'PARENTESI' PULLY LAMPS
DESIGNED BY ACHILLE CASTIGLIONI AND PIO MANZÚ IN 1970, PRODUCED BY FLOS, ITALY, LAST QUARTER 20TH CENTURY
The floor to ceiling wire cable fixture with vertically adjustable steel tube and lamp holder, with swivel rubber socket
Various sizes
Together with a pair of chrome steel floor lamps, second half 20th Century, each with tubular stand and adjustable fitting, on black lacquered steel base- 143 cm. high; And a pair of black paint-coated steel floor lamps (9)

Specialist note

The design of the lamp was inspired by a sketch by Pio Manzú (1939-1969) in which a cylindrical box with a slit for light slid up and down a pole and was fixed in place with a screw. According to the sketch, Pio Manzú probably would have had the pole run from ceiling to floor. In his design, Castiglioni replaces the pole with a metal cable which when deviated creates attrition and allows the light to remain in position with no need for a screw.
The Parentesi lamp is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1979.