Porcelain Plate “Cupole d’Italia” by Piero Fornasetti, Italy, circa 1970
View Similar Items
Porcelain Plate “Cupole d’Italia” by Piero Fornasetti, Italy, circa 1970
About the Item
- Creator:Fornasetti (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 0.79 in (2 cm)Diameter: 9.45 in (24 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Macclesfield, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: f891418070911326103fs
Fornasetti
The Italian artist, illustrator and furniture maker 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.
- Piero Fornasetti Cupole D'italia Plate, Galleria Di Milano, 1960sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Miami, FLAn original vintage decorative plate from the Cupole d'Italia series designed and manufactured by the Italian master of playful and surreal self-expression Piero Fornasetti in the 1960s. Fornasetti loved incorporating architectural elements in his designs. This collection depicts different domes in Italy. This particular example (number 7) is decorated with the cupola of the famous Milan Galleria. The Cupole d'Italia plates were designed and made for the building contractor Andrea Brenta of Milan, to be given as Christmas presents...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Dishes and Vide-Poche
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Astrolabe Porcelain Plate, 1967By FornasettiLocated in Atlanta, GAA porcelain plate designed by Piero Fornasetti as no,3 of the twelves-piece set of the Astrolabe series between 1965-1976. The series each depicts an Astrolabio, an elaborate inclino...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Platters and Serveware
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Astrolabe Porcelain Plate 1968By FornasettiLocated in Atlanta, GAA porcelain plate designed by Piero Fornasetti as no.4 of the twelves-piece set of the Astrolabe series between 1965-1976. The series each depicts an Astrolabio, an elaborate inclino...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Platters and Serveware
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti, Vintage Plate from the Series of Church Domes Cupole d'ItaliaBy FornasettiLocated in Roma, ITDecorated porcelain Plate number 5 from the series Cupole d’Italia: Cupola di San Lorenzo a Torino. Each plate with a different dome of an Italian church seen from the inside named and numbered on the reverse. These plates were designed and executed for building contractor Andrea Brenta, Milan, as Christmas presents...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- 1960 Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Astronomici Plate, #7 in SeriesBy FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PA1960 Piero Fornasetti porcelain plate with number 7 in the Astronomici series. Astronomici means "Astronomics". This is a rare pattern in black and ...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Commedia Dell'arte Maschere Italiane Porcelain PlatesBy FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAPiero Fornasetti set of four Porcelain Commedia Dell'arte Maschere Italiane Porcelain lates, Italian Masks, circa 1970s Each plate depicts a character from the Commedia Dell'ar...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain