Designer: Piero Fornasetti (1913 – 1988)

Item: Strumenti Musicali (Musical Instruments) Bookends

Manufactured by: Piero Fornasetti

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: Circa 1950s

Materials: Steel with enamel and silkscreen printed decoration and felt

Dimensions: 6” x 5 ¼” x 4”

Condition: Very good vintage condition.  The felt on the bottom of one bookends is water stained from a long ago spill, as shown. 

References: Fornasetti, Barnaba, Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Rizzoli (2010), page 499.

Description: Here is a vintage pair of the Fornasetti Strumenti Musciali steel bookends in the smaller size.  These bookends were made in two sizes, these smaller sized versions seem a little more difficult to find. These were made between the 1950s and 1960s and the vintage examples are getting harder to find.  The firm began reissuing them after Piero’s death, but only in the larger size.  Both retain their original red felt bottoms with the impressed in gold Fornasetti logo. This pair are likely 1950s vintage.