Mid-Century Marquetry Wall Sconces by Andrea Gusmai, Italy

These particular wall sconces in brass was custom designed and made by a local artisan to hold the beautiful marquetry panels by Andrea Gusmai of Trani, Italy. The panels are produced in teak and boxwood depicting the Greek mythological gods Apollo and Artemis. The opaline glass shades are also original from the era.

“In 1958 he (Andrea Gusmai) ascended to the Chair of Peter, Pope John XXIII. The goodness of the new Pope, his simple and good doing, inspires the Maestro to immediately reproduce it in inlaid size in giant size: he creates a work of art in marquetry that portrays the Holy Father with the pontifical vestments and in a gestational chair in a magnificent work of 72,000 pieces of wood. The judgment of the Vatican experts was unanimous: a unique work in the world. Guarded for years in the pontifical apartments, the same Pope then donated the work to his hometown, Sotto il Monte, in the “Chapel of Mary Queen of Peace”, in the church of San Giovanni Battista.

He also had ties with the Kennedys, which led to him receiving the medal of the American Embassy in Rome”.

From the collection of La contessa arreda