The Reale table is an exercise in structural subtraction. The frame develops as a system of slender shaped members meeting at precise nodes, held together by exposed brass bolts that become a deliberate graphic element. The four legs are flat tapering blades, pierced by elongated oval cut-outs that lighten their section and allow light to pass through; they cross into inverted V trestles and connect to a horizontal central body from which the most distinctive element of the piece emerges, a double-eye sculpted bracket that supports the top at the centre, read as a wing-joint. The clear glass top lets the entire architecture be read from above and makes it the real protagonist of the table: the structure does not hide beneath the top, it shows itself through it.
The frame is in solid walnut, with open grain and a warm amber tone, wax-finished. The connections between the various members are resolved with through-bolts in brass with domed heads, left visible both on the legs and at the junctions of the central body: not a decorative device but the declaration of a structural principle that refers to aeronautical engineering. The central node carrying the top is carved from a single piece of wood in a biomorphic form, with two ovoid openings that turn it into an element at once structural and sculptural. The top is a thick plate of clear glass, with bevelled inclined edges, simply resting on the frame and held in place by the shoulders of the central saddle and the ends.
The Reale was designed by Carlo Mollino in 1946 for the Turin offices of the Società Reale Mutua Assicurazioni, from which it takes its name. Within Mollino's body of work it is one of the pieces that most fully express his idea of organic structure as a direct derivation from the mechanics of flight and racing car bodywork, two worlds that Mollino inhabited in parallel with architecture: cut-outs, exposed joinery, shapes obtained by subtraction, continuity between load-bearing element and formal language. Zanotta began researching Mollino's work in the 1980s as part of its programme of recovering historical pieces of Italian design, and in 1990 reissued the Reale under official license, in collaboration with the designer's estate. Every example produced by Zanotta is a recognised and certified edition.
Restored and refinished by our in-house atelier. The wood has been cleaned and re-waxed while retaining the original patina. The brass hardware is intact and carries the use patina typical of the material. The glass is intact, without significant chips or scratches. The structure is stable.
Dimensions: Height 70 cm (27.6 in) x Width 177.5 cm (69.9 in) x Depth 87.5 cm (34.4 in)
