Elio Martinelli, Mod. 1863 Saliscendi, Martinelli Luce 1976

The Mod. 1863 Saliscendi pendant lamp, designed by Elio Martinelli and produced by his own company, Martinelli Luce in 1976. The design of the Mod. 1863 is a perfect marriage of form and function and uses a beautifully simple counterweight system, developed by Martinelli in the mid 1960s, to operate the rise and fall function of the lamp. A polycarbonate shade in a warm cream/caramel tone has an interior that has been fitted with a ridged white aluminium parabola to help absorb and evenly distribute the light. This lamp is often incorrectly attributed to Gae Aulenti — the Mod. 1863 is not one of the three lamps she designed for Martinelli Luce, namely the Pipistrello, Ruspa and La Torre.

The lamp is in good condition and perfect working order. There is very slight UV discolouration on one side of the lamp, which is impossible to photograph and imperceptible once the lamp has been hung. The rise and fall mechanism is without any faults and still works perfectly. The sale does not include the E27 light source required for the lamp.