Joan Busquets

JOAN BUSQUETS I JANÉ (Barcelona, 1874 - 1949).
Display case - sideboard with shelves and top panel. Modernist, ca. 1900-1910....
Walnut, mahogany, Hungarian ash, marquetry of 15 fruit woods, glass and mother of pearl.
It has a metal plate from the workshop of Joan Busquets.
It has no key.
Exhibits a transverse crack in the soffit; Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 195 x 94 x 40 cm.

The most outstanding element of this showcase of the highest level is the figurative marquetry soffit that crowns it, authentic visual and symbolic axis of the piece. It depicts two female figures in profile, of clear symbolist inspiration, inscribed in a circular motif that refers both to medieval medallions and to the graphic languages of Modernism. This use of marquetry as a narrative support fully reflects the conception of furniture as a total work of art, one of the fundamental principles in the production of Joan Busquets i Jané, today considered one of the most representative figures of Catalan modernism.

From this soffit, the showcase develops into a highly refined piece of display furniture, made of walnut wood, with fruit wood marquetry and mother-of-pearl applications, which shows the high technical level of the Busquets workshop, one of the most outstanding in modernist Catalonia and comparable, in terms of quality and importance, to that of Gaspar Homar. The curved lines, stylized plant motifs and the harmonious integration of materials reveal the influence of international Art Nouveau, reinterpreted from a local and artisanal sensibility.

Joan Busquets was president of the Fomento de las Artes Decorativas and a collaborator in emblematic projects such as Gaudí's Casa Calvet.

This showcase not only fulfills a practical function, but is presented as a piece of high historical and artistic value, representative of the luxury and bourgeois taste of modernist Barcelona, in line with works by Busquets now preserved in institutions such as the MNAC, the Palacio Güell or the Museum of Catalan Modernism.