Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Plates with the Mongolfiere (Hot Air) Design
View Similar Items
Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Plates with the Mongolfiere (Hot Air) Design
About the Item
- Creator:Fornasetti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)Diameter: 10 in (25.4 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Downingtown, PA
- Reference Number:Seller: NY8162.82091stDibs: LU86103093352
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.
- 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 Porcelain Astrolabe Plate, Number Twelve in Astrolabio SeriesBy FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAThe Piero Fornasetti porcelain plate depicts an astrolabe, it is number twelve of twelve in series. A ribbon above reads "Ad Habendum Horam Ineqvalem Et Qvatvor Angvlos Celi In Die"....Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- Barnaba Fornasetti Calendar Plate for 2013 with Piero Fornasetti Self PortraitBy FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PABarnaba Fornasetti Calendar Plate for 2013, with Piero Fornasetti Self Portrait, #518 of 700 The plate depicts an image of Piero Fornase...Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- Vintage Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Astrolabe PlateBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAVintage Piero Fornasetti astrolabe plate, Numbered #7 in Series 1960s-mid 1970s. The Piero Fornasetti porcelain plate depicts an astrolabe in a ...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Conchiglie Seashell Plate with Mollusks, #9By Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAPiero Fornasetti Porcelain Conchiglie Seashell Plate With Snails and Mollusks, #9, Circa 1960s-70s The Fornasetti plate is decorated in the Conchigl...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Plate with Coats of Armour, the Armature PatternBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Downingtown, PAThis rare Piero Fornasetti porcelain plate from the Armature pattern is number one in the series. The black and white lithographically-decorated and hand painted porcelain plate i...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dinner Plates
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Tema E Variazioni Porcelain Plate #78By FornasettiLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Piero Fornasetti "Tema e Variazioni" porcelain plate depicting the face of the famous opera singer Lina Cavalieri, no.78 / made in Milano Italy circa 1960. Original mark on t...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- Set of Twenty Four Early Piero Fornasetti Adam and Eve Porcelain PlatesLocated in Benington, HertsA fine set of “Adam and Eve” lithographic transfer printed plates designed in 1954. Italy Milan - Adamo set of 12 plates circa 1980’s Italy Milan - Eva set of 12 plates circa 1950/60’s These were originally part of a private collectors who has kept them in amazing condition. The Eva plates are very rare as thought to be some of the first to have been produced. Each plate having printers maker’s marks with leaf and title, numbered 1 to 12 on each set. Both sets in mint condition ideal for a serious collector. PIERO FORNASETTI (1913 - 1988)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...Category
20th Century Italian Ceramics
MaterialsPorcelain
- Porcelain Plates from the Musical Instruments Series by Piero Fornasetti, 1950sBy Fornasetti, Piero FornasettiLocated in MIlano, ITPorcelain plates from the Musical Instruments series by Piero Fornasetti, 1950s with screen-printed and hand-painted decoration. Produced and designed in the 1950s by Piero Fornasetti. Present the brand of the manufacture. This plate are very rare and in very good conditions, probably never used as plate but just to decorations for a living wall or in a kitchen furniture...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
$780 Sale Price20% Off - Piero Fornasetti "Nummus" Green Porcelain Plate Mid-Century ModernBy FornasettiLocated in North Miami, FLThis vintage Fornasetti plate is numbered three and is from the collection of the Roman coin series. All hallmarked on the back. This is a ver...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Classical Roman Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Large Plate Gilded Acorn Ptn from Pigne Series, Circa 1950sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Lincoln, LincolnshireThis is a Rare Piero Fornasetti porcelain large plate, dating to the mid century 1950's It is from the Pigne series in the rare Gilded acorn pattern with detailed hand gilding as per...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
MaterialsPorcelain
- Piero Fornasetti Calendar Porcelain Plate for the Year 1988By Piero FornasettiLocated in Brussels, BEPiero Fornasetti calendar porcelain plate for the year 1988.Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Porcelain
MaterialsPorcelain
