Fragment of a Sicilian Cart Transformed into a Coffee Table, Sicily, late 19th – early 20th century

Fragment of a Sicilian Cart Transformed into a Coffee Table, Sicily, late 19th – early 20th century

Important original fragment of a Sicilian cart in carved, sculpted, and polychrome wood, later adapted into a coffee table with a burnished metal frame and a cut glass top.

The wooden element likely belongs to the upper lateral section of the cart's body, an area traditionally reserved for more elaborate narrative and symbolic decoration. The composition is characterized by a complex perforated structure with phytomorphic motifs and continuous scrolls, executed using a continuous hand-carved process, with an ornamental layout reminiscent of late Baroque decorative repertoires reinterpreted according to Sicilian folk tradition.

At the center is a high-relief sculpted scene depicting the Flight into Egypt, an iconography frequently used in cart decoration between the 19th and 20th centuries. The figurative narrative is constructed on different levels, with a strong sense of plasticity and compositional theatricality: Saint Joseph leads the donkey on which the Madonna and Child sit, dominated by an angelic presence.

The original polychrome, still largely preserved, features pictorial layers in shades of oxide green, red earth, ochre, black, and golden yellow. The surface displays a significant historical patina with widespread craquelure, oxidation, wear, and abrasions consistent with age and its original outdoor exposure. These characteristics contribute to the strong material and documentary value of the piece.

Of particular interest is the presence of the signature "Giuseppe Furci," likely attributable to a master decorator or a workshop active in the Sicilian cart tradition, an uncommon feature in artifacts of this type.

The subsequent transformation into a coffee table deliberately maintains the fragment as the undisputed protagonist, suspending it almost like an architectural sculpture beneath a transparent glass top. The result is a unique piece with a strong collectible impact, halfway between folk art, sculptural furniture and anthropological find.