Group of 3 Vintage Italian Opera Plate Genuine Piero Fornasetti Milano
View Similar Items
Group of 3 Vintage Italian Opera Plate Genuine Piero Fornasetti Milano
About the Item
- Creator:Piero Fornasetti (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 1 in (2.54 cm)Width: 5.13 in (13.04 cm)Depth: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 3
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:Ceramic,Glazed
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950
- Condition:Minor fading.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5008221912292
Piero Fornasetti
The Italian artist and illustrator Piero Fornasetti was one of the wittiest and most imaginative design talents of the 20th century. He crafted an inimitable decorative style from a personal vocabulary of images that included birds, butterflies, hot-air balloons, architecture and — most frequently, and in some 500 variations — an enigmatic woman’s face based on that of the 19th-century opera singer Lina Cavalieri. Fornasetti used transfer prints of these images, rendered in the style of engravings, to decorate an endless variety of furnishings and housewares that ranged from chairs, tables and desks to dinner plates, lamps and umbrella stands. His work is archly clever, often surreal and always fun.
Fornasetti was born in Milan, the son of an accountant, and he lived his entire life in the city. He showed artistic talent as a child and enrolled at Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Art in 1930, but was expelled after two years for consistently failing to follow his professors’ orders. A group of his hand-painted silk scarves, displayed in the 1933 Triennale di Milano, caught the eye of the architect and designer Gio Ponti, who, in the 1940s, became Fornasetti’s collaborator and patron. Beginning in the early 1950s, they created a striking a series of desks, bureaus and secretaries that pair Ponti’s signature angular forms with Fornasetti’s decorative motifs — lighthearted arrangements of flowers and birds on some pieces, austere architectural imagery on others. The two worked together on numerous commissions for interiors, though their greatest project has been lost: the first-class lounges and restaurants of the luxury ocean liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.
Fornasetti furnishings occupy an unusual and compelling niche in the decorative arts: they are odd yet pack a serious punch. They act, essentially, as functional sculpture. A large Fornasetti piece such as a cabinet or a desk can change the character of an entire room; his smaller works have the aesthetic power of a vase of flowers, providing a bright and alluring decorative note. The chimerical, fish-nor-fowl nature of Fornasetti’s work may be its greatest strength. It stands on its own. Bringing the Fornasetti look into the future is Barnaba Fornasetti, who took the reins of the company after his father's death.
- Eight Vintage Piero Fornasetti Musicalia CoastersBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Doraville, GAA set of eight porcelain coasters designed by Piero Fornasetti. The design is named "Musicalia". The coasters are white porcelain with a gilt gold background outlined in black depic...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Sezioni Di Frutta Porcelain Plates of an Eggplant & AppleBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAPiero Fornasetti Sezioni di Frutta Porcelain plates of an eggplant and an apple, #6 & #7, 1960s The Piero Fornasetti Pottery Plate depicts 2 plates from the Sezioni Di Frutta se...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsCeramic, Pottery
- Vintage Set of Seven Ceramic Storage Jars by Piero Fornasetti, Italy, circa 1960By Piero FornasettiLocated in London, GBA rare set of beautifully colored decorative ceramic storage jars by Piero Fornasetti, circa 1960. Depicting seven different designs... tea, coffee, rice, paprika, cloves, cinnamon and pepper, these vintage...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsCeramic
- Piero Fornasetti Tema E Variazioni Lina Cavalieri Torso Porcelain PlateBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Bishop's Stortford, HertfordshireVintage Italian porcelain plate by Piero Fornasetti (Italian 1913-1988) decorated with the face of his muse, Lina Cavalieri, printed on a nake...Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Capricorn Zodiac Porcelain Plate, The Zodiac PharmacopoeiaBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAPiero Fornasetti Capricorn Zodiaci Porcelain Plate, Made for Crinos, #9 in Series, Titled "Gli Zodiaci Farmacopei", The Zodiac Pharmacopoeia. 1960...Category
Vintage 1960s English Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsCeramic, Porcelain
- Piero Fornasetti set of eight Monkeys ceramic coasters, Italy 1950sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Milan, ITPiero Fornasetti set of eight Monkeys ceramic coasters, From the "Ne sont tous chevaliers qui sur cheval montent" series Italy 1950s Original box.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsCeramic