Philippe Daverio's bizarre collection goes up for auction. Here are 10 curious items

A selection of items from Philippe Daverio’s bizarre collection is about to go up for auction: the date is April 23, 2021, at the Il Ponte auction house in Milan. Up for sale will be various objects collected by the art historian and popular TV popularizer who passed away last September: paintings, sculptures, musical instruments, furniture, design objects, and more. A sort of. journey into Philippe Daverio’s taste.

“In approaching the Daverio collection,” reads the collection catalog, “one must detach oneself from any traditionalist idea of a collection. It does not present works of art in the most common sense of the term, but human creations whose essence is whimsy, sifted through the lens of a fine and original observer. The Daverio Collection is the tidal wave of his enormous culture, it is the exception that confirms the rule: the goods he collected and selected do not represent the manifesto of an era, the poetics of a master, of a current, they are not the economic investment of a forerunner and prophet. Philippe Daverio was not interested in building a personal collection, so much as in personalizing a collection: the most exhilarating, pyrotechnic, unusual testimony to how unusual, curious and eclectic the human soul can be. Those looking for the canvas of the great artist discovered by him, the sculpture paid homage to him as a critic and connoisseur, the cult-object symbolizing an attitude to beauty, will get lost in a labyrinth of mirrors. To own an object by Philippe Daverio is to own a part of his endless curiosity, to share his winking smile, to surprise friends and acquaintances with extravagant inventions that become furniture and part of an unconventional everyday life.”

The exhibition, by appointment only, is at Il Ponte’s Milan headquarters from April 7 to 16, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5:30 p.m. For information, to see the lots, or to book an appointment, you can visit Il Ponte’s website. Below is a selection of ten curious items that will go up for auction.

Patrizia Medail, Mother Russia (2003; antique Ottoman embroidery, other textiles, cotton fringe, glass, 115 x 135 x 25 cm)

Ettore Sottsass, Fruit Holder Model Gaya (Production Up&Up, Italy, 1983; Carrara marble and copper handles, 33 x 38.5 cm)

Ugo Celada da Virgilio, Sweets (oil on masonite, 56 x 65 cm)

Wood sculpture depicting Wenchang Wang (China, Ming dynasty, 17th century; carved and polychromatically lacquered wood, height 120 cm)

Fireplace of architectural form (19th century; black marble from Belgium, fluted uprights decorated with bronze lion’s head applications and friezes, architrave with foliate volutes, decorated in the center with a time-only clock, balance mechanism, black marble dial with pierced brass Roman numerals, 230 x 185 x 60 cm)

Ludovico Pogliaghi (attributed), Stipo of architectural form (upper part decorated with railing and inlaid in the central part with winged figures and classical scenes, front with five doors, two of which are glazed, and the central one of architectural froma with marble columns and gilt bronze capitals decorated with classical scene and concealing drawers, base with panels inlaid with classical and Raphaelesque scenes with carved columns, turned uprights with gilt bronze capitals, 150 x 225 x 60 cm)

Cracking Art Group, Daverio Frozen Sex Portrait (2004; plastic materials, 69 x 69 cm)

Banquet for the Rai broadcast Il Capitale (84 x 95 x 60 cm)

Urano Palma, Untitled (wood, 5 x 35 x 8 cm)

Pair of neo-Gothic style rose-carved benches with wavy arms, upholstered in original fabric (103 x 93 x 58 cm each)

Philippe Daverio's bizarre collection goes up for auction. Here are 10 curious items

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