Set of Four Medusa Porcelain Piero Fornasetti Rosenthal Dinner Plates
View Similar Items
Set of Four Medusa Porcelain Piero Fornasetti Rosenthal Dinner Plates
About the Item
- Creator:Fornasetti (Designer),Rosenthal (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)Depth: 12 in (30.48 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 4
- Style:Classical Roman (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:20th Century
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Lambertville, NJ
- Reference Number:Seller: 10071stDibs: LU130827290893
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.
Rosenthal
While the Rosenthal Porcelain Factory grew from humble decorating roots — as many pottery companies do — it eventually built a list of universally revered designer and artist partners that included Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. And after securing an enviable position as a top manufacturer of serveware and dominating the porcelain and bone china markets, Rosenthal expanded into furniture production, working with influential designers Verner Panton, Luigi Colani and Günther Ferdinand Ris and Herbert Selldorf.
German-born Jewish businessman Philipp Rosenthal founded the company in 1879 in Bavaria. It began as his modest workshop where he painted porcelain and encountered success with porcelain ashtrays. Rosenthal hired the best designers and clay modelers he could find. Adolf Oppel designed figurative Art Nouveau pieces, while Eleonore (Lore) Friedrich-Gronau produced decorative objects, namely her graceful porcelain dancer figurines, for the company.
Dinnerware, though, would be a Rosenthal mainstay. Between 1904 and 1910, Rosenthal produced its renowned dinnerware lines such as Donatello, Darmstadt and Isolde. These were introduced as unornamented white pieces — only later were they given their underglaze designs.
Rosenthal founder Philipp, a Catholic of Jewish ancestry, resigned in 1934 as the company’s president due to pressures owing to discriminatory German laws that took shape during the rise of the Nazi regime. Rosenthal died in 1937, and the family fled to America. The company would not regain its footing until 1950 when Rosenthal’s son, Philip, joined the firm and, in 1958, became chairman and dubbed Germany’s “China King.” At its peak, the company had 10,000 employees.
In the 1950s, Rosenthal’s modernist dinnerware was a significant part of the brand’s offerings, and by 1961 they introduced the famed Rosenthal Studio Line. Although furniture designers and ceramicists would lead the list of individuals working with Rosenthal — among them Tapio Wirkkala, Max Weber and Lisa Larson — the company eventually reached out to fine artists, not only Dalí and Warhol but Sandro Chia and Kenny Scharf. Rosenthal also collaborated with fashion designers Gianni Versace and Donatella Versace.
In a daring move in 1972, the company diversified into furniture, collaborating with some of the giants of mid-century modern design. The revolutionary Sunball chair, an icon of Space Age seating crafted by Selldorf and Ris, was among Rosenthal’s stellar successes in this venture.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Rosenthal ceramics, porcelain, tableware, seating and more.
- 10 Rosenthal Bavaria Pink Rose Floral with Gold Decorative Edge Dinner PlatesBy RosenthalLocated in Lambertville, NJ10 Rosenthal Bavaria Pink Rose Floral with Gold Decorative Edge Dinner Plates + 1 for a total of 11. All in wonderful condition. Very minor age appro...Category
Late 20th Century German Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Set of 12 English Raised Gilt Porcelain Dinner Service PlatesBy Royal WorcesterLocated in Lambertville, NJA regal set of 12 elaborately gild service plates, by Royal Worcester. The set with delicate broad gilt borders with a white porcelain background. The mark on the back from 1950.Category
Vintage 1950s American Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Set of 10 Wedgwood Cotswold Dinner PlatesBy WedgwoodLocated in Lambertville, NJSet of 10 wedgwood Cotswold dinner plates 10.75" in diameter. 6 are pristine. 4 have minor age appropriate blemishes. Please note all the images.Category
20th Century English Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Set of Six Sterling Silver Overlay Service Dinner PlatesBy Lenox's Ceramic Art CompanyLocated in Lambertville, NJA set of elegant sterling silver overlay service plates with the pre-1930 Lenox green mark. This opulent set is early 20th century, circa 1915 in an Edwardian pattern of a thick ster...Category
Early 20th Century American Edwardian Dinner Plates
MaterialsSterling Silver
$920 Sale Price / set20% Off - Set of 15 Floral and Gilt Service Dinner PlatesBy Black Knight China 1Located in Lambertville, NJA beautiful set of broad floral band service plates with gilt decoration. The elaborate floral borders with central urn and floral medallion in German porcelain, circa 1930. By Black Knight...Category
Vintage 1930s German Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
$1,480 Sale Price / set20% Off - Set of 12 Porcelain Allegorical Scene PlatesBy Royal Vienna PorcelainLocated in Lambertville, NJAn elaborate set of 12 Royal Vienna porcelain hand painted cabinet plates with cobalt and gold borders. The plates measure 10.75 inches in diameter and depict 12 different allegorica...Category
Vintage 1920s German Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
$3,950 / set
- Ceramic Julia Dinner Plate by Fornasetti for RosenthalBy Rosenthal, FornasettiLocated in Atlanta, GAA "Julia" porcelain plate with surrealism designs by Piero Fornasetti for Rosenthal, an iconic series from 'Temi e variazioni' (“Themes and Va...Category
Late 20th Century German Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsCeramic
- Ceramic Julia Dinner Plate by Fornasetti for RosenthalBy Fornasetti, RosenthalLocated in Atlanta, GAA "Julia" porcelain plate with surrealism designs by Piero Fornasetti for Rosenthal, an iconic series from 'Temi e variazioni' (“Themes and Va...Category
Late 20th Century German Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsCeramic
- Ceramic Julia Dinner Plate by Fornasetti for RosenthalBy Rosenthal, FornasettiLocated in Atlanta, GAA "Julia" porcelain plate with surrealism designs by Piero Fornasetti for Rosenthal, an iconic series from 'Temi e variazioni' (“Themes and Va...Category
Late 20th Century German Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsCeramic
- Piero Fornasetti Rare Vintage Matador & Bull Porcelain Dinner Plates Set of SixBy FornasettiLocated in North Miami, FLThese wonderful hard to find and hard to come by complete set of RARE wonderful bullfight black and white vintage Mid-Century Modern porcelain dinner plates are the genius work and i...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
$4,640 Sale Price / set20% Off - Antique Rosenthal Plates, Germany, Set 3 Porcelain Dinner PlatesBy RosenthalLocated in Bastogne, BEЗолоч Antique German Rosenthal Porcelain Set of 3 Dinner Plates, 1923, Floral Pattern. Beautiful plates with red, blue, orange flowers. Depict...Category
Vintage 1920s German Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Rosenthal Themes & Variations Porcelain Plate, # 27By Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAPiero Fornasetti Rosenthal Porcelain Themes & Variations Plate, Motiv 27, With Original Box, 1980s The Piero Fornasetti Themes & Variation design is made on Rosenthal porcelain....Category
Vintage 1980s Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain