Eighteenth Century

The white porcelain pod-shaped fruit bowl displays inside a painted decoration depicting an undergrowth populated by a lizard, two snails, some butterflies, a wasp, and a snake.&nbsp;
The decoration of this tray, signed and dated 1746, is the work of Anton Stephan Carl Anreiter, son of Carl Wendelin, who in 1737 was called to Doccia by Carlo Ginori as chief decorator.&nbsp;
The composition, aside from some variations, can be traced back to a painting by the Belgian artist Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton, now in a private collection, perhaps known to Anton Stephan through his father, who had worked extensively in Vienna as a decorator at the Du Paquier Manufactory. It is certain that another painting by de Hamilton was used as a model for the decoration of a second fruit bowl made in Doccia by the Austrian painter, now held in a private collection.&nbsp;
The date of the piece’s execution coincides with Carlo Ginori’s appointment as governor of Livorno and the painter’s definitive return to Vienna. Certainly conceived as an artistic and display object, its creation is linked to the inauguration, which took place in 1746, of a gallery of pieces exhibited to the public at the Villa of Doccia, mentioned by the English historian Thomas Salmon in 1757. That gallery, then used to show customers the finest production of the manufactory, is the first nucleus of the future Ginori Museum.

Porcelain

Anton Stephan Carl Anreiter von Zirnfeldt and Manifattura Ginori

Fruit bowl decorated with an undergrowth scene

Tableware ceramics

Fruit bowl

Among the most typical eighteenth-century decorations of the Ginori manufactory, the one already defined in the eighteenth-century Manifattura lists as “scattered flowers and fruit” features fruits (apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, figs, grapes, slices of watermelon or whole watermelons painted in polychrome) alternating with floral sprigs in different colors.&nbsp;
The oval tureen with a lid bearing a polychrome Cupid-shaped handle is embellished with a border of French derivation, defined as “peignés bleu”, and edged with gold piping.&nbsp; The piece rests on a large oval shaped dish, decorated with the same motif, with a melon at the center.&nbsp;
This shape of smooth oval tureen was widely popular at the Doccia Manufactory, as evidenced by several examples with different decorations preserved at the Ginori Museum. The same can be said for the “scattered flowers and fruit” decoration, which was revived during the 20th century, albeit with variations, initially acquiring the name “Frutti d’oro” and later “Italian fruit” after the Second World War.

Ginori Manufacture

Soup tureen and oval plate with “scattered flowers and fruit” decoration

Tureen

Early Twentieth Century

Laboratory porcelain

Since the second half of the nineteenth century, the Ginori Manufactory has produced porcelain objects for laboratory use. Among the items related to the production of objects for experiments or for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are beakers with spouts, chemical-mechanical filters for purifying water, common and filtering funnels, mortars and pestles, perforated ladles or with spouts.&nbsp;
On December 3, 1940, the Richard-Ginori Ceramic Company of Milan registered the trademark Pasta Euclide, enclosed within a distillation flask on a flame, with the wording Richard-Ginori in capital letters below. For this reason, it is possible to date items showing this special mark to the 1940s. The Ginori Museum Archive also preserves a catalog of Pasta Euclide porcelain laboratory items produced by Richard-Ginori, unfortunately undated but almost certainly from the same period.&nbsp;
The porcelain of these items was of the heat-resistant type, that is, more resistant to heat, mechanical stresses, and the attack of acids and bases, and therefore perfectly suited to the intended use. The photo shows a funnel with filter inside (inv. 8169), a crucible with perforated filtering bottom (inv. 8143), and a capsule with spherical bottom and spout (inv. 8153), of the same type illustrated on the cover of the catalog Porcelain for Laboratory.&nbsp;

Crucible with perforated bottom, funnel, and capsule with spout

Profit

The Hand of Daphne, decorated on both sides in agate gold with branches and leaves extending to the fingers, refers to the well-known myth recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The nymph Daphne, to escape the passionate love of the god Apollo, called upon the gods for help and was transformed into a plant. Along with the Witch’s Hand (inv. 3204), the Hand with Gold Symbols (inv. 3206) and the two Flowered Hands (invv. 3207, 3208), it is part of a series conceived by Ponti in 1935, when he had already stepped down from his role as artistic director of Richard-Ginori. This is confirmed by the date present next to the signature on some of the pieces.
Ponti probably designed all five decorations for the Paris exhibition L'art italien des XIXe et XXe siècles, for which, together with Piero Chiesa, he curated the section dedicated to applied arts. The execution of the decoration is almost certainly the work of Elena Diana, a master of the agate gold technique at the Manifattura.
The hands preserved at the Ginori Museum are unique objects made by using an existing serial article as a base, specifically white porcelain molds produced by Richard-Ginori for rubber and latex glove manufacturers. Ponti transformed them into works of art through the originality of the design and the use of precious techniques such as, in this case, the burnishing of gold with an agate tip.

Gio Ponti, Elena Diana

Hand of Daphne

Home decor items

Knife handle, spoon, olive ladle and cruet holder

Since its foundation, the Doccia Manufactory specialized in the production of tableware and food utensils, made both in white porcelain and with polychrome decorations. Among these, the most notable are the handles for cutlery painted with blue stencil flowers, floral motifs in different colors, and chinoiserie figurines. The Ginori Museum collections preserve two specimens dating back to around 1750 (inv. 3898, 3899), which feature a shaped and molded form, decorated with small flowers in purple and red. Other types of floral decorations made in Doccia on porcelain handles are also known, more complex due to the greater number of corollas and stylized motifs along the handle.
The Manufactory also produced serving cutlery to be placed on the table. This is the case of the white porcelain olive ladle with a perforated terminal bowl, which allowed for easy draining of food preserved in brine (inv. 3734). Such utensils could also be embellished with the same decorations already used for the sets, as shown by the spoon with the typical rosebud motif produced in Doccia from the last quarter of the eighteenth century (inv. 689). This decoration, noted in the Manufactory’s registers in the 1780s as “painted with scattered rosebuds, profiles and red-purple serrated edge,” is also found on a table cruet holder, probably dating back to the Empire period (inv. 690). Composed of two separate pieces, the container features two cylindrical compartments for glass bottles containing oil and vinegar, and a handle shaped like a rod ending with a double-faced herm figure. The Ginori Museum holds many artifacts of this type, including a variant of the same model with simpler decoration and a female double-faced herm (inv. 654).

Handle of knife, spoon, olive ladle, and vial holder

The large bonbon dish was designed by Gio Ponti in 1925 for the exhibitions in Monza and Paris, where it enjoyed considerable success. The colored example bears the mark with the name Omaggio agli snob, a title later changed to Il Balletto, as shown in the caption published in the catalog Ceramiche moderne d’arte Richard-Ginori, Milano [1930], p. 49. This is a reconsideration by Ponti, who, while identifying the object with the original title, preferred that it not be used officially nor displayed under the pieces. The presence of the name on the colored museum example, produced in 1927, could be due to the fact that it was not intended for commercial sale. The expression snob refers to the figures of peasants dancing on the lid, an ironic tribute to those who look down on art and folk traditions.
The fluted motif of the container, characteristic of the Art Déco taste, demonstrates knowledge of metal examples produced by the Officine Viennesi based on designs by Josef Hoffmann. The Museum owns a second example in the version decorated in gold (inv. 5377).

Gio Ponti

Box with Lid The Ballet or Homage to the Snobs

The letter addressed by Gio Ponti to Alfred Brown, his contact at Doccia from around 1928, offers an interesting insight into the artistic director’s working method. The architect starts from a graphic idea—in this case, the palm with a sinuous trunk flanked by two winged figures—and proposes several possible applications, including a sculptural group. The drawing was later produced at Doccia as a bas-relief on monochrome quadrangular vases with celadon glaze (mod. 840s, dec. 1275E; a specimen is in the Museum collection inv. 3243) or in biscuit and gold. However, as with other inventions he considered particularly successful, Ponti also adapted the idea for the earthenware of the S. Cristoforo factory, presenting it in a two-dimensional version, as a gold design on metallized black enamel.
The winged figures, hybrid and ambiguous creatures, ancient and modern at the same time, inspired many of Ponti’s designs for Richard-Ginori and other works throughout his career. Here we find them paired with the palm, an exotic motif itself recurrent in the iconography of the 1920s and ’30s, which Ponti himself used for two other decorative series alongside this one.

Paper

Letter to Alfred Brown with a drawing of a palm between two winged figures

Drawing

Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Coffee pot, sugar bowl and milk jug with daisies

This white porcelain set, consisting of a coffee pot, milk jug, and sugar bowl, is decorated in relief with bands of daisies on the body and handles shaped like twisted stems ending with a corolla. The three lids have bud-shaped knobs, each different from the others.&nbsp;
Overall, the themes reflect the influence of English Modernism, which anticipates the new European Liberty style. However, the floral motif, cherished by the Pre-Raphaelite taste, is here still contained within a clearly defined band, following a more traditional pattern compared to the later developments of Art Nouveau.&nbsp;
The Museo Ginori collections also preserve prototypes of a saucer and two cups with the same decoration (inv. 7452, 7453, 7454), designed around 1896 by the painter and teacher at the Museo Artistico Industriale in Rome, Alessandro Morani, for Baron Alberto Blanc. The designs – of which some watercolors exist with minor variations and are kept in a private collection – were probably created by Morani while he was involved in the refurbishment and modernization works of the villa of the Lezzani marquises on the Nomentana road, acquired by Blanc in the 1890s. During this renovation, the Ginori Manufactory also handled the production of raised decorative elements in maiolica for the exterior of the building.&nbsp;

Alessandro Morani and Richard-Ginori

Coffee pot, sugar bowl, and milk jug with daisies

Plate with Raffaellesque decoration

Under the guidance of Lorenzo Ginori Lisci, in the second half of the nineteenth century the Doccia Manufactory devoted considerable attention to the imitation of Italian Renaissance maiolica. In the years 1854-1855 some of the best painters active at Doccia were sent to copy from life examples of plates, flasks, water pitchers, and other maiolica objects preserved at the Royal Galleries of Florence, which later became part of the collections of the Bargello Museum. A major showcase for this type of production was the Exhibitions held throughout the nineteenth century. The first exhibition in which the Manufactory presented samples of maiolica imitating ancient sixteenth-century artifacts was the Paris Exhibition of 1855. From that moment, and until the 1870s, neo-Renaissance maiolicas became one of the manufactory’s recognized fields of excellence. The success of this type of production continued throughout the second half of the century. This drawing, preserved in the Archive of the Ginori Museum, is also evidence of this.
The inscription informs us that this is a copy of a sixteenth-century Urbino plate with a Raffaellesque decoration, preserved at the Bargello Museum (inv. 18). Since the Museum was inaugurated in 1865, the drawing is certainly later. Moreover, the high number of the decorative code (1850) further suggests dating it to the 1890s. The fact that the triumph scene in the center was not reproduced allows us to assume that the copyist’s interest was solely to replicate the ornamental composition.

From a specimen at the National Museum of the Bargello, with variations

Plate design with Raphael-style decoration

In the summer of 1923, Richard-Ginori was commissioned by the Holy See to design the new maiolica tile flooring for the Loggia delle Benedizioni. The archive of the Ginori Museum preserves many studies and design drawings related to the decorations conceived for this commission, one of which is illustrated here. The loggia in question is a long and narrow gallery located at the level of the façade portico of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It occupies much of the length of the main front and corresponds to the five large windows on the second level, with the balcony at the center from which the pope, newly elected in the Conclave, imparts the benedictio urbi et orbi. In 1922, Pius XI, having just ascended to the papal throne, reinstated the tradition of the papal blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s, previously abolished by Pius IX in 1870 as a protest against the capture of Rome.
The Milanese architect Luca Beltrami was involved in this undertaking for the technical aspects, and Costantino Sneider was tasked with designing the new tiles. The flooring was to consist of compartmentalized sections and three octagons: one bearing Pope Ratti’s coat of arms and the others with inscriptions. The preliminary sketch shown here presents an initial compositional idea for the central octagon featuring Pius XI’s coat of arms within a wreath. From this, rectangular maiolica sections decorated with green and yellow rosettes radiate outward, framed by a leafy frieze. The lateral decoration, on the other hand, consists of bands and panels made from rhomboidal or square terracotta tiles, bordered by white sections.
The idea to include the long maiolica section decorated with rosettes may have emerged in October 1923, when the factory director Carlo Zerbi wrote to Beltrami that it should appear as a horizontal carpet stretching across the hall. The composition was later altered and simplified in its main aspects and installed in 1924.

Preliminary sketch for the floor of the Loggia of Blessings in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

The drawing depicts a composition with imaginative architectures, featuring handwritten notes by Gio Ponti (1881-1979), including the indication ‘Architectures for the Agata’. Agata is one of the nine female figures that make up the series ‘Le mie donne’, a successful family of decorations for ornamental majolica vases and plates, created by the Milanese architect between 1923 and 1927. In the case of the plates, each female figure was accompanied by a different architectural caprice, of which the drawing under consideration is an example.
The indicated pairings do not always correspond to those actually realized. In this case, for example, a similar architecture, albeit with variations, is paired with Donatella on ropes, rather than Agata. Ponti himself spoke of the enormous impression he had “living, during the war, in periods of rest from the front, in Palladian buildings, and with the possibility of seeing as many as I could”; many of his decorations for Richard-Ginori art ceramics, as well as the first buildings he designed in the 1920s, confirm this inspiration.

Architectures for a plate from the series My Women

The jar decorated with women and architectures belongs to the series Le Mie Donne, one of the most famous and admired decorative families created by Gio Ponti for Richard-Ginori. Reserved for maiolica art objects entirely hand-painted, its execution required the work of the most skilled painters. The series was so successful that Ponti developed it over the years into several variants, with women on flowers and ropes, as well as on clouds, in various color combinations.
Female figures reclining on clouds already appear at the center of some plates presented at the 1923 Biennale di Monza. But it was the following year that the decoration was elaborated and finalized definitively, always as decoration for a series of plates, where beneath the clouds architectural fantasies appeared, different for each figure. Between late 1924 and 1925, the decoration was extended from plates to round and oval bowls of various sizes, and finally all the women were brought together to decorate a jar, set against an opulent and dense continuous background of buildings from all eras. The women are each identified by a particular pose and a name indicated on the neck of the vase: ‘Domitilla’ ‘Fabrizia’, ‘Balbina’, ‘Agata’, ‘Emerenziana’, ‘Apollonia’, ‘Leonia’ and ‘Donatella’.
The large vase participated in the 1925 Paris exhibition and the second Biennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza. In addition to the blue monochrome version, it was also produced in ochre tones.

Maiolica

Vase of Women and Architectures

Vase

The sketch depicts a rare vase with lid (mod. 1006, decor 185) belonging to the series ‘Le mie donne’, designed by Gio Ponti exclusively for artistic majolica between 1923 and 1927, in the variants featuring clouds, ropes, and flowers. Only one example of this model is known, currently in a private collection.&nbsp;
The vase is illustrated in the first Ceramiche moderne d’arte Richard-Ginori catalog, Milan [n.d.], dating to around 1925-1926, p. 19, but does not appear in the subsequent 1930 edition. It can be assumed that the design dates back to the period when Ponti was working on objects to be exhibited at the 1925 Milan and Paris shows.&nbsp;
The design is not detailed because, as can also be seen from the pencil-sketched detail, in this case the author intended to indicate to whoever was to carry out the decoration how to execute the blue sky background, with well-marked diagonal brushstrokes. Ponti carefully followed the development and execution of his ideas in Doccia, despite his studio being in Milan. The close collaborative relationship with the Sesto factory and in particular with Luigi Tazzini, head of artistic productions at Doccia, is fortunately documented by correspondence that is still preserved in the Museum’s archive.

Sketch for an urn-shaped vase with a decoration of women on clouds

This vase with pierced wing handles, decorated with arabesques and stylized flowers in blue and ruby lustre, belongs to the nineteenth-century production of artifacts inspired by Hispano-Moresque models from the 14th and 15th centuries. These types of products first appear in the sales and commission records of the Ginori manufactory, compiled for the 1878 Paris Universal Exposition.&nbsp;
The vase in question follows, albeit with small variations, the shape of <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70406/vase-unknown/">a famous 15th-century example</a> acquired in 1863 by the then South Kensington Museum in London, today the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 8968-1863).&nbsp;
The decoration, of which the stencil is preserved in the Ginori Museum archive, is instead an eclectic reinterpretation of Arabesque motifs certainly attributable to the decorators of the Doccia factory.

Ginori di Doccia Manufacture

Vase with pierced wing handles

Artistic maiolica

Gio Ponti, Urn "La Passeggiata Archeologica"

The urn-shaped vase is here paired with La Passeggiata Archeologica, one of the most original decorative families designed by Gio Ponti for Richard-Ginori. With the typical lightness of his talent, the Milanese architect succeeds in achieving a synthesis between modern style and an unmistakably Italian character that he considered the key path to follow for the renewal of national decorative arts.&nbsp;
The parallelepiped-shaped base (identified by code 395s) is inspired by ancient models, also revived in the Doccia Empire period production. Ponti reworks these by creating an elegant tapered shape, where the vertical thrust is accentuated by the absence of handles.&nbsp;
The model was selected to be presented at the 1925 exhibitions in Paris and Monza, where it established itself as one of Ponti’s most distinctive inventions. The decoration consists of a simple floor-like background that covers the entire object with a diagonal angling, creating an illusory architectural setting. Figures and furnishings are rhythmically arranged yet remain prominently in the foreground. The color scheme follows a strict alternation between the purple of the figures and the gray of the inanimate elements, while gold outlines define all contours and enhance the object's preciousness.&nbsp;
The title La Passeggiata Archeologica evokes the culture of the Grand Tour, alluded to by the eighteenth-century style clothing of some figures, and also echoes the name of the large archaeological park established in Rome in the second decade of the 1900s. The figurative theme dates back to 1923, the year it appeared at the first Biennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza, and its attribution to Ponti is confirmed by the presence of his signature on many of the ceramics decorated in this way. In this case, the signature and date are displayed on an external face of the base. Usually, however, they are hidden from view, like factory marks.&nbsp;

Urn The Archaeological Walk

Revived from a typical form of Etruscan art, the model of the casket with lid, combined with the most refined decorations, was considered by Gio Ponti a true summa of the artistic quality of the porcelains he designed for Richard-Ginori. In 1925 Ponti presented in Monza and Paris a new luxurious pattern intended for important objects: La Conversazione classica. Similar to La Passeggiata archeologica in its general concept, it is distinguished by the numerous subjects it includes and by the more elaborate background. There appear twelve characters alternating with four groups of putti, a pair of dogs, and fifteen architectural or furnishing elements, among which are a fountain, a herm, and an equine protome. No element is depicted more than once on the same object. It is for this reason that on a large object such as the casket, figures belonging to La Passeggiata archeologica are also included. 
The subjects are inspired by iconographic sources and printed archaeological catalogs. The color scheme of La Conversazione classica on porcelain follows that of the urn with La Passeggiata archeologica decoration (inv. 3325): figures in purple, furnishings in gray, with outlines and details in gold. Ponti urges adherence to this rule and to resist the temptation to change the colors. Versions with figures in green and blue and personalized details were, however, exceptionally made for the caskets gifted to Ugo and Fernanda Ojetti, now preserved at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.

Cista The Classic Conversation

The sumptuous decorative family conceived by Ponti in 1925, called La Conversazione classica, finds its most extensive application on this monumental six-handled maiolica jar, created for the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris and never replicated again. The decoration, also presented in 1925 at the Biennale of Monza, follows a more elaborate version of the already well-established compositional scheme designed for La Passeggiata archeologica. On a background that imitates an inlaid floor featuring geometric patterns and stylized vases, twelve figures are arranged (some identifiable as the architect, the town planner, the poet, the coin expert, etc.) alternating with groups of putti, a pair of dogs, and fifteen architectural or furnishing elements. Among these are recognizable an Etruscan cista, a herm with a satyr, a headless Venus, a candelabrum, an equine protome, as well as a marble fountain presented at the second Biennale of Monza and designed by Gio Ponti himself. 
The subjects are freely inspired by archaeological finds and other ancient iconographic sources, revisited in an Art Deco style. The classical antiquity is also evoked by the date in Roman numerals and by the title and signature of Gio Ponti in characters inspired by ancient lapidary script. Within the Conversazione classica series, the monochromy in ochre tones, enlivened only by the blue squares, is exclusive to this jar. 
Individual figures from the same decorative family were executed in maiolica on blue, red, or brown backgrounds. In porcelain, the same decoration was instead offered with a floor-like gold background and various color combinations, or on gold agate feathered vases set on a white background.&nbsp;

Vase La Conversazione classic

Although there is no definitive documentation, this vase adorned with a large branch of hawthorn in gold and grey on a lapis lazuli blue background, is attributable to Giovanni Gariboldi (1908-1971), who from the early 1930s was the chief designer of Richard-Ginori art ceramics.&nbsp;
Oriental ceramics are the main source of inspiration for both the shape and the decoration. The shape, reminiscent of the traditional Chinese Meiping vase, was already present in the manufactory’s repertoire since the early 1900s (model 1499).&nbsp;
The decoration probably draws inspiration from plum branches on a black background featured on popular 19th-century Chinese manufactory vases (an example at the Victoria &amp; Albert Museum inv. C. 1314-1910), imitations of which were produced by the Doccia manufactory itself in the nineteenth century. &nbsp;
The oriental prototype serves as a starting point that is freely reinterpreted, with attention to detailed design and a focus on showcasing the craftsmanship skills and the use of the most refined decorative techniques, which at this time were executed entirely by hand. Particularly successful in this case is the combination of the intense dusty blue with the brightness of the white flowers and the warm glimmers of the agate gold thorny branch.&nbsp;
From the decoration number (1799E) we can deduce that the design dates back to around 1938.

Giovanni Gariboldi

Vase with hawthorn branch

Attributed to Giovanni Gariboldi (1908-1971), chief designer of Richard-Ginori art ceramics in the 1930s and 1940s, this vase is shaped like a shell and decorated on the outside with small marine animals in relief including a crab, seaweed, and starfish painted in gold. The interior is decorated with a gilded spray and a fringed gold rim. Hence, a dating of the decoration (1948E) equal to or later than 1940 can be hypothesized, the year in which this technique was first documented. The model itself was also available earlier, with decorative variants including one without relief applications (1759E; 1764s, inv. 3349).&nbsp;
The marine world is a recurring inspiration in Gariboldi’s imagination throughout his long career. In 1940 the artist presented at the Milan Triennale the Coppa del mare in biscuit and a series of other vases with marine reliefs, including a flowerpot with a perforated lid (inv. 3516).

Shell-shaped vase with marine-themed reliefs

The large cup, resting on a ring foot, is decorated with a relief depicting an elegant composition featuring trophies of ancient arms, including a crest, a bow with arrows, halberds, and shields. The distinctive matte finish, without glazing, highlights the finesse of the modeling, further emphasized by the contrast between the background color and the white of the trophy.&nbsp;
A specimen of the same model (mod. 1901s) was presented by Richard-Ginori at the VII Milan Triennale in 1940, where Giovanni Gariboldi was awarded the diploma of honor. The participation of Richard-Ginori porcelain at this important Milanese exhibition is illustrated in a lengthy article in Domus by Gio Ponti, who, while praising Gariboldi’s work, seems almost to warn him about the risk of over-refinement. An even sharper judgment was expressed in the magazine Emporium by Roberto Papini, who appears to allude precisely to this cup when he reproaches Richard-Ginori for being “proud to revive certain Wedgwood cameos that had been out of fashion for at least a century.”&nbsp;
The Ginori Museum preserves other variants (inv. 3536, 3538, 3540), one of which is monochrome and the others decorated in two colors like this one. &nbsp;

Cup of Arms

The cylindrical low candlestick holder is decorated with small white feathers, modeled naturalistically in relief, which wrap around it starting from the base, standing out against the satin gold background. Two candlesticks of this type are illustrated in Domus, flanking a sculpture depicting a rooster (in the museum collection, inventory nos. 3560, 3561, 3363), whose dense plumage was the source of inspiration for the decoration. The three pieces were therefore also intended to be displayed together, as a centerpiece or furnishings for consoles.
Presented at the 1937 Paris decorative arts exhibition, this candlestick is among the first documented examples of Gariboldi’s collaboration with the Richard-Ginori factory in Doccia. Previously, the designer’s name had appeared only in connection with earthenware or stoneware (produced at the S. Cristoforo factory), but even in these early works Gariboldi demonstrates a remarkable sensitivity to the peculiarities of porcelain, evident in the lifelike rendering of the relief feathers’ movement, slightly tousled, which enhances the fineness and brightness of the material.

Candleholder with embossed feathers

Candle-holder

Traditionally used by European ceramic manufacturers to shape the handles of coolers and tureens, the acanthus leaf with its jagged volutes is the sole focus of the decorative motif on this vase, stylistically attributed to Giovanni Gariboldi.
Reinterpreting the ancient acanthus leaf motif in a modern key, the designer uses it as a precious lace that adorns the aqua green background of the neck of this flattened ovoid-shaped vase.&nbsp;
Its creation can be dated around 1946 when the production of art ceramics, interrupted due to the war, resumed both at the Doccia factory and at the S. Cristoforo factory.&nbsp;
Gariboldi employs lobed leaf motifs, more or less stylized, in several of his terracotta models dated to the same year (models 7416, 7418, 7479, 7483), some of which were donated by the Richard-Ginori Company itself to the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, where they are still preserved (inv. 1386, <a href="https://bit.ly/3dxhwel">1396</a>, <a href="https://bit.ly/3CcVRT0">1452</a><a href="https://bit.ly/3CcVRT0"></a>).
The Ginori Museum owns another similar porcelain vase, but larger in size and painted in light yellow (inv. 3278; model 2128s, decoration 1991E) and a vase where the same leaf motif frames a figurative low-relief decoration (inv. 3558; model 2131s decoration 1995e).

Vase with embossed acanthus leaves

The type of flower vase with a perforated lid, quite rare in the production of the Doccia manufactory, was introduced into the twentieth-century repertoire of Richard-Ginori by Gio Ponti (mod. 715s, in the Museum collection inv. 3287).&nbsp;
This example belongs to a series of art porcelains of various shapes and sizes, featuring marine and floral subjects, designed by Giovanni Gariboldi and presented at the 1940 Milan Triennale.
The planter has a trapezoidal profile, fluted walls, and a removable perforated lid designed to hold the stems of fourteen flowers (mod. 1895s dec 2007 E). One of the larger faces is decorated with a small rectangular panel featuring white marine motifs in slight relief on a golden background. The strict elegance of the ribs, the delicacy of the reliefs, and the subtle combination of white, sprayed gold, and the unusual aqua green shade aim for an effect of composed and sophisticated refinement, evoking the patinated atmospheres of luxury interiors and high fashion of the period.&nbsp;
The green base, based on the progression of the decorative identification code (2007E), could be a later chromatic variant compared to those presented in 1940.&nbsp;
The Museum collection preserves another example of this same model (inv. 3606, decorated with a different color scheme cod. 1901E) bearing the decal signature ‘Giovanni Gariboldi’. The attribution is also confirmed by an article by Gio Ponti published in Domus in June 1940, which illustrates other models from the same series.

Planter with relief depicting marine subjects

Giovanni Gariboldi, Pear-shaped vase with wavy leaf relief

Emblematic of Gariboldi's typical ability to enhance the quality of porcelain by working with barely perceptible thicknesses, which in this case seem to dress the object like a fabric, the vase is decorated with a light relief, resembling a shell or a scalloped and delicately undulating leaf that wraps around its ovoid body, reaching up to the base of the neck.
A specimen of the same model (mod. 1887s) was presented by Richard-Ginori at the 7th Milan Triennale in 1940, where Giovanni Gariboldi was awarded the diploma of honor. On this occasion, Gio Ponti, in Domus, dedicated an extensive article to Richard-Ginori’s art porcelains, in which this vase also appears.&nbsp;
However, the porcelains presented by Richard-Ginori at the 7th Triennale did not escape the criticism of a sharp observer like Roberto Papini, who did not find them sufficiently innovative: “Let us not say that these efforts to bring porcelain back to the levels of preciousness to which it is entitled are not commendable: however, they lack boldness, they bear the mark of a refined salon worldliness tinged with fear that weakens attempts in their early stages [...]”.&nbsp;
The Ginori Museum preserves other variants, both monochrome and bicolor, like this one (invv. 3339, 3340, 3341, 3342).

Pear-shaped vase with wavy leaf relief

Designed by Giovanni Gariboldi in 1937 for the international exhibition "Arts et Techniques dans la Vie moderne" in Paris (mod 1647s), this pear-shaped vase draws inspiration from a recurring type in Far Eastern tradition.
Around the narrow neck is wrapped a fully three-dimensional reptile – referred to as a ‘salamander’ in price lists – depicted in the act of hunting with its powerful retractable tongue. Compared to the prototypes in Chinese ceramics, where the symbolic meaning attributed to the dragon image prevailed, here the pose emphasizes the threatening expressiveness of the animal with a much greater sculptural presence and great attention to naturalistic detail.
The delicate jade green glaze covering the vase in question may recall the Eastern type known in Europe as celadon, but it differs in being opaque and applied to a different type of clay body.
The Ginori Museum owns four other specimens of this model with a different color scheme (invv. 3525, 3526, 3553, 3554).

Vase with Salamander

Giovanni Gariboldi o Elena Diana, Vaso con farfalle

The vase adorned with four butterflies in the round can be attributed to the period of artistic direction by Giovanni Gariboldi (1908-1971). However, the paper label affixed under the base seems to indicate that the designer of this particular model is Elena Diana. The decorator is especially known for her skill in the agate gold technique, but in the 1940s the Doccia manufactory also produced original models of her creation (vase with fern inv. 3566, and vase with pearl necklace inv. 2594). 
The shape is distinguished by its clear profile. The wings of the stylized butterflies, placed close to each other, create an elegant three-dimensional pattern with strong sculptural relief. The effect of refined preciousness is also enhanced by the particular milky white glaze, with iridescent reflections, featuring details in gold marked with an agate point. 
From the model number (mod. 2112s) we can deduce that the design dates from after 1940. Considering that during the war period the production of art porcelains was partially or entirely suspended, it is likely that this is a creation from the years immediately following the end of the war.

Giovanni Gariboldi or Elena Diana

Vase with butterflies

This plate depicting a Madonna with Child is taken from a painting by the Neapolitan artist Domenico Morelli, now known only through a photograph preserved in the archive of the Ginori Museum.
Likely entering production in 1878, when it was exhibited at the Universal Exposition in Paris with the indication of model and decoration number, it is cited as a prototype at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition.
It is probable that this maiolica model, as well as other maiolica pieces derived from nearly contemporary works and produced by the manufactory during the same period, reached Doccia through the mediation of the Calabrian painter Giuseppe Benassai, a friend of Morelli and artistic director of the factory since 1870. Indeed, Benassai did not limit himself to creating designs and decorations of his own invention but also provided printed or photographic prototypes taken from other pictorial sources.
The popularity of these compositions, used as sacred images to be placed at the head of beds, is also evidenced by their prestigious buyers, which include the Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Margherita of Savoy of Italy.

From a painting by Domenico Morelli, with variations.

Plate depicting Madonna with Child

The soup tureen with lid, whose shape is called ‘Firenze’, features handles and a grip made of braided ribbon and is decorated with a border of stylized foliage composed of neat rows of small green heart-shaped leaves, supported and connected by reddish-brown tendrils. The ornamentation is completed by gold lines that underline the container’s contours.
This way of synthesizing the naturalistic element and rhythmically marking the surface with interlacing lines reflects the decorative trends of Art Nouveau, which the artistic director Luigi Tazzini interpreted at Doccia in both art ceramics and the production of numerous tableware sets. A similar decoration is illustrated in color with the identification number 3276 on a catalog plate dating back to the first decade of the twentieth century, where it is applied to a coffee set of the ‘Vigna’ shape.

Liberty

Firenze tureen with green leaf vine decoration

Dated to the first decade of the twentieth century, the sketch advertising the Milan branch of Richard-Ginori is inspired by the Liberty style. Executed in charcoal, pencil, and watercolor on paper, it depicts various types of products made by the factory. Among stacked plates, small dishes with a decorated rim possibly featuring floral motifs, a long-necked vase, and cups, some Art Nouveau style objects can be seen. The vase with a circular mouth in the foreground on the left shows on its slightly bulging body a decoration of stylized flowers, similar to other examples preserved at the Ginori Museum (inv. 2456). The tureen with a lid also features a radiating stem ornament on the outer part of the vessel.
The floral theme was widely used by Richard-Ginori during its adoption of the Liberty style in the early years of the twentieth century, encouraged by the artistic director Luigi Tazzini. These motifs also accompany the search for new forms, often zoomorphic, as evidenced by the vase with facing peacocks, the true protagonist of the sketch. A masterpiece of Richard-Ginori’s Art Nouveau period design, the piece is preserved in its large white porcelain version at the Ginori Museum (inv. 2001). The peacocks, animals symbolizing Liberty for their graceful nature, are depicted resting on the shoulder of the vase, ideally covering it with both their feathered tails.
The advertising poster was meant to showcase the best that the Doccia Manufactory could offer and to demonstrate its adherence to the popular styles of the time.

Advertising sketch for the Ceramica Richard-Ginori Company

This sketch in pencil, ink, and watercolor on paper shows a study for the creation of a porcelain lamp with a flared shape, featuring a decoration of calla lily stems in relief on the body and foliage at the base. At the top, the form is characterized by a crown of overlapping leaves, also in relief, in different shades of green. The lampshade was perhaps intended to be made in lithophane, a porcelain with graduated thickness that allows light to pass through to reveal a decoration.
The drawing, dating to the first decade of the twentieth century, fully reflects the Doccia Manufactory’s adherence to the stylistic elements of the new Art Nouveau language. The driving force behind this revolution was the head of the factory’s artistic production, Luigi Tazzini, who brought to Doccia inspirations related to morphologies and decorative models seen at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition. The art production of the Doccia Manufactory between 1900 and 1910 fully embraces the new trend: drawing inspiration from the plant world (often in dialogue with graceful female figures), form and decoration intertwine with each other in an organic whole.

Richard-Ginori

Design of a lamp with calla leaves and flowers

The circular-section vase in white porcelain is decorated with raised iris stems all along its body, while the corollas placed around the rim adorn the mouth of the piece with their petals. Some of these, fully modeled in the round, protrude at the calyx to form a scroll, then join the rest of the composition on the upper edge.
As often happens with Liberty period pieces, the decoration participates in the shape of the object, becoming an integral part in defining the profile of the vase. The iris, a flower favored by modernist aesthetics for its long stem and slender leaves, was particularly beloved in Florence as it is a symbol of the city.

Shaped vase with embossed iris

Presented at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, this wall sconce model was displayed as part of the dining room furnishings designed by Giovanni Buffa for the Richard-Ginori pavilion. The applique depicts a mermaid embracing a spiral shell, inside which the metal fixture for the light bulb was to be inserted. The figure, with a long twisted tail, stands out against a large oyster shell, perforated at the back to allow the passage of the power cable.&nbsp;
The combination of natural forms with depictions of female figures featuring sinuous profiles reflected the taste linked to the new decorative models of Art Nouveau. The playful entanglement created by the mermaid’s tail, which finally reveals the caudal fin in very low relief on the shell, enhances the lightness of the composition. The model for this applique was discontinued by Richard-Ginori in 1906.

Oyster-shaped wall light

Presented at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, the figure L’Aria was displayed as part of the dining room furnishings designed by Giovanni Buffa for the Richard-Ginori pavilion. 
The female figure in white porcelain, draped in a dress stirred by the wind that emphasizes her shape, is depicted with raised arms supporting a small ceiling light. Originally, in fact, this composition formed the base for a lamp and was presented as such at the Turin exhibition. At the Ginori Museum, a second version of the work is preserved, made from the original moulds in 1969 and exhibited at the 1972 exhibition on Italian Liberty in Milan (inv. 7466).&nbsp;
The elegant sinuosity of the figure is highlighted by the gesture of rising onto tiptoe, accompanied by the drapery and flounces of the dress. 
Under the direction of Luigi Tazzini, the production of the Doccia Manufactory was characterized by the creation of new forms, compositions and decorations that differed markedly from what had been produced until then. This choice was part of a new European artistic path, shaped by innovative ornamental solutions in the Art Nouveau style.

The Air

Sculptures and models

The vase, with an expanded globular shape and a small neck bordered in gold at the mouth, features a stylized decoration depicting thin sprigs of green leaves and red berries outlined in gold. The blue background, varied by the presence of white clouds, helps to create the impression of a certain three-dimensionality.&nbsp;
Richard-Ginori’s porcelain production in the first decade of the twentieth century is characterized by the creation of designs linked to the new Liberty style, which at that time was predominant in Europe. Objects with anthropomorphic and phytomorphic elements in high relief are accompanied by simpler, more linear profiles, enhanced by decorations experimenting with new techniques. In this case, the soft colors used appear to be inspired by the palette of underglaze pigments introduced for the first time in porcelain by the Danish manufactories Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grohndal.

Vase with leaves and red berries

This vase, with its simple shape, low flared neck, and wavy rim at the mouth, is distinguished by a precious hand-painted decoration featuring white lilies on a pale sky-blue background. The shape of the flowering stem remains the same and is repeated identically three times on the body. The rim is outlined by a gold trim that follows the contour of the porcelain profile.
Vases of this shape were presented at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, in the dining room designed by Giovanni Buffa for the Richard-Ginori pavilion. The ornaments offered at that time by the Manifattura on this type of object mainly depicted flowers with leaves and curving stems on backgrounds in delicate pastel colors, in line with the Art Nouveau style developed in Doccia by artistic director Luigi Tazzini.

Vase with lilies on a light blue background

This long-necked vase features the decoration called ‘a lava colata’, which was experimented with by the Manifattura di Doccia in the early 20th century under the direction of Luigi Tazzini. The marbled effect in yellow, brown, grey, and gold is the partly random result of a process in which the glaze is poured down the surface, creating soft drips of color.
This technique is inspired by examples made by French ceramicists at the end of the 19th century, who in turn were influenced by works of Japanese artists. Its success is largely due to the unpredictable outcomes of glaze dripping, which until then had been considered a serious manufacturing defect, but here is valued as ornamentation.
The Ginori Museum preserves another specimen decorated with the same method, but in blue and gold tones (inv. 1979).

Long-neck vase with poured lava decoration

The ornaments introduced at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Manifattura di Doccia favor floral motifs linked to the popularity of the Art Nouveau style, introduced by the artistic director Luigi Tazzini.&nbsp;
This vase with a smooth body and long neck is embellished with a stylized painted decoration depicting blue cyclamens and green leaves on a very pale green background. The golden lines, graphically traced to mimic the curves of the stems, roughly outline the shapes of the corollas and foliage as well. The interrupted strokes help enhance the sense of flatness created by the simplified representation.&nbsp;
Similar depictions can be found in works held in private collections, while a vase with cyclamens entirely rendered in gold strokes on a deep blue gran fuoco background is preserved at the Museo Ginori (inv. 2783). This was presented by Richard-Ginori at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin. From this, we deduce that this type of decoration was already being produced in Doccia at that time.&nbsp;

Long-necked vase with cyclamen

Vaso con papaveri

The small jug-shaped vase, with a smooth body and low cylindrical neck, features an elegant decoration of poppy flowers in gold, brown, and silver on a light blue background. The corolla is framed by a graphic motif of wavy gold lines corresponding to the shoulder.
Vases of this shape were presented at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, in the space set up by Richard-Ginori.
The Liberty-style update of the Doccia production, of which this vase is an example, is attributed to Luigi Tazzini, the artistic director of the time. From a technical point of view, there is a particular pursuit of three-dimensionality achieved not only through chiaroscuro effects but also through the application of raised details using pâte sur pâte. A similar technique was used at Doccia for a famous dessert service commissioned by Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy, produced between 1884 and 1907 and still kept at the Quirinale Palace.

Vase with poppies

The body of this biscuit planter is composed of three female figures wrapped in a thin dress moved by the wind, who—with their arms stretched behind them—hold the edges of the fabric in their hands. The impression is that they are dancing suspended in the air, supported by the swirling tangle of cloth that forms the base of the vase. A theme dear to the Liberty style of the early twentieth century, the depiction of the sinuosity of the female body is emphasized by the presence of waving drapes, which outline the forms and accentuate the idea of lightness.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The vase was presented at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, in the dining room designed by Giovanni Buffa for Richard-Ginori. Its shape was probably inspired by the official poster created for the exhibition by the painter Leonardo Bistolfi, which depicted four women in fluttering dresses dancing in a meadow. The idea of translating dance and dancing bodies into porcelain reflected the typical language of Art Nouveau and had a distinguished precedent in the centerpiece titled “Jeu l'écharpe” modeled by the sculptor Agathon Leonard and made in biscuit by the Sèvres manufactory.

Biscuit

Planter with Dancing Figures

This vase-sculpture in white and biscuit porcelain represents a nude female figure emerging from the trunk of a tree. The focus is on the purity of the material, untouched by any painted decoration or gilding. The adherence of the Manifattura di Doccia to the Liberty style in the very early years of the twentieth century is due to the direction of the Lombard Luigi Tazzini, who had the opportunity to see the porcelain creations in Art Nouveau style from various European manufacturers at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition and brought notes and drawings back to Doccia.&nbsp;
Of this composition, which seems to almost take on a symbolic meaning, with the small figure emerging from darkness towards the light, a <a href="https://museoginori.org/collezioni/studio-per-vaso-a-tronco-d-albero-con-figura-femminile">maquette</a> is preserved in the Archive of the Ginori Museum that closely resembles the final execution, except for the right arm’s position of the figure, which was changed after reconsideration (inv. Disegni 2707).

Tree trunk-shaped vase with female figure

This pencil sketch on paper shows a study for a vase in the shape of a tree trunk from which a naked female figure emerges. A <a href="https://museoginori.org/collezioni/vaso-a-forma-di-tronco-d-albero-con-figura-femminile">white porcelain version</a> of this same composition exists at the Ginori Museum, which almost faithfully reproduces the drawing, except for the pose of the figure’s right arm (inv. 7467). It is interesting to observe how, initially, the illustrator sketched this detail in two different positions: one more closely matching the ceramic version, with the arm raised to the forehead, and the other, later traced over and made final, with the arm lowered and moved away from the side.
The image, which seems to take on an almost symbolic meaning, with the small figure emerging from darkness into light, reflects the Doccia Manufactory’s adherence to the Liberty style in the very early years of the twentieth century. The then artistic director Luigi Tazzini had the opportunity to see porcelain creations in the Art Nouveau style from various European manufactories at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition and, upon returning to Doccia, introduced inspirations derived from the new decorative trends.

Study for a tree-trunk vase with female figure

The sketch consists of an illustration featuring two barefoot female figures, covered by a dress blown by the wind, depicted as they hold a white vase together. In the center, corresponding to a laurel garland, there is an empty rectangle. This could allude to the space occupied by a display for showcase items, around which the advertising poster was perhaps meant to be exhibited.
This particular sketch should be related to the interests that the Società Ceramica Richard-Ginori of Milan had towards the overseas market, especially the American one, entrusted to Henry Creange. The name Henry Creange, inscribed in white with Art Nouveau characters at the bottom, indeed refers to the figure of the Richard-Ginori representative in the United States. In 1912, he had opened a sample room on the third floor of the Fifth Avenue Building in New York, where he also exhibited porcelain and ceramics produced by Ginori.
A brief notice in the Crockery &amp; Glass Journal of March 19, 1914, read: “It is more like a visit to an art museum than passing through a sales point when observing the splendid exhibition of Ginori porcelains in the showrooms of Henry Creange, the American representative of the company. Ginori ceramics have reached an enviable level of perfection in the reproduction of historical pieces. Each piece in its renewed existence is exactly as it was when it first delighted the eyes of collectors one or two centuries ago. For many years Ginori has been adding rare specimens to its lists of reproductions, each with its own story and romanticism, and their new additions each season are awaited with keen interest by attentive lovers of ceramics” (p. 13).

Advertising sketch ‘Henry Creange’ for Società Ceramica Richard-Ginori

This study for the setup of the Ginori pavilion at the 1873 Vienna World Exhibition clearly shows the popularity enjoyed by artistic maiolica products in the second half of the nineteenth century.&nbsp;
The Ginori Manufactory had already participated, among the few Italian exhibitors, in the first international exhibition of handcrafted and industrial production held in London in 1851. However, it was only at the subsequent 1855 Paris edition that the first maiolica creations were presented.&nbsp;
A flagship production of the Manufactory for much of the second half of the century, maiolica met public taste for the neo-Renaissance style. The sketch reveals large vases, fountains, drink dispensers, and basins that eclectically reinterpret the Italian tradition from famous Renaissance ceramic centers such as Urbino and Faenza. In the foreground, four examples of maiolica garden seats of different shapes stand out, including the "three cushions," "barrel-shaped," and bases "imitating rushes." The Vienna Exhibition is also remembered for some unique pieces designed by the painter Giuseppe Benassai, then the Manufactory’s artistic director. Among these is a monumental vase depicting the burning of a prairie, now preserved at the Ginori Museum (inv. 17), and four large maiolica plates representing the parts of the world, unfortunately unknown. One of these is clearly visible in the sketch presented here, resting on the pedestal on the left and enclosed within a frame. The plaque decorated with a cartouche at the top bears the inscription "EUROPA," while the companion plate placed on the opposite base is barely visible.

Late 19th Century

Study for the arrangement of the Ginori pavilion at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition

Urbano Lucchesi, Vaso a raffaellesche con teste di Bacco a rilievo

Certainly attributable to the peak of sculptor Urbano Lucchesi’s activity at the Manifattura di Doccia, this large vase is signed inside the mouth. It can be hypothesized that the factory’s then artistic director oversaw its creation at all stages, including decoration. His interest in developing new raffaellesque designs is well known, from which an interpretation of the motif emerges that differs from the ancient and Renaissance model, used at Doccia since the early years of maiolica production.
Our vase features a polychrome design on a white background with handles modeled as vine shoots with leaves and grapes in relief framing two masks evoking the god Bacchus. The physiognomic characterization of the latter’s face recalls the naturalism that distinguishes some figures conceived by Lucchesi for the Ginori Manufactory, consistent with his academic training as a portraitist and his attention to portraying rural life. On the painted decoration on the back of the vase body, the attributes recalling the Bacchic cult are visible: the pitcher, the syrinx, and the thyrsus.
The form of this vase was also used by Lucchesi in combination with other plastic decorations. Among these, we recall La Baccante, presented at the Ginori pavilion of the 1891 Palermo Exhibition, which features a maenad and a young faun modeled in full figure and positioned along the silhouette of the vase.

Urbano Lucchesi

Raffaellesque Vase with Relief Heads of Bacchus

Angelo Marabini, Piatto raffigurante Apollo e Saffo

Since 1879, the artistic direction of the manufactory was briefly entrusted to Angelo Marabini from Faenza, active in Doccia as a figurative painter. Marabini introduced decorations with mythological subjects and rural scenes that were well received by the public at the 1881 National Exhibition in Milan.
Signed at the bottom with the artist’s initials, the plate featuring Apollo and Sappho depicts the meeting between the Greek poetess and the god of the arts, intent on playing the harp against the backdrop of a countryside landscape. 
The decoration of majolica painted with scenes taken from artworks by painters of previous centuries had been practiced in Doccia since the 1870s, but in this specific type it is evident the influence of paintings by Bolognese artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, whom Marabini undoubtedly had the opportunity to study in depth thanks to the years spent in his family’s printmaking workshop.&nbsp;

Angelo Marabini

Plate Depicting Apollo and Sappho

plate

Under the denomination Botticelli Style, the Doccia Manufactory recorded a group of decorations that fairly faithfully reproduced compositions or elements taken from paintings ranging from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. These are therefore not necessarily Botticellian inventions, as the term might suggest. A typical feature of this type of decoration is the inclusion of floral compositions that frame the main scene.&nbsp;
The three children positioned on the front of the vase are an almost exact reproduction of the group of angels to the left of the <a href="https://www.uffizi.it/opere/botticelli-madonna-del-magnificat#details">Madonna of the Magnificat</a><a href="https://www.uffizi.it/opere/botticelli-madonna-del-magnificat#details"> </a>by Sandro Botticelli (Uffizi Galleries, inv. 1890, no. 1609). On the sides of the composition and on the back, the decoration is completed by long branches with white flowers.&nbsp;
The vase in question must have had a pendant, as revealed by a watercolour drawing preserved in the archive of the Ginori Museum, where a group of three figures is depicted, two of which are taken, albeit in reverse, from the angels in the painting of the <a href="https://www.uffizi.it/opere/verrocchio-leonardo-battesimo-di-cristo">Baptism of Christ</a> by Andrea del Verrocchio and the young Leonardo da Vinci (Uffizi Galleries, inv. 1890, no. 2306).&nbsp;
The artefacts featuring decorations in Botticelli Style must be dated between the 1890s and the early twentieth century, coinciding with the introduction at the manufactory of models by Pre-Raphaelite artists as well.

Artistic majolica

Vase with snake handles and decoration in "Botticelli Style"

From the second half of the 19th century and throughout much of the 20th century, during the golden age of collecting ancient Italian maiolica, the Ginori Manufactory stood out for producing maiolicas in the Renaissance style, which were very well received at the Universal Exhibitions in London in 1862 and Paris in 1867.&nbsp;
This plate features at the center a putto seen from behind, seated on a viola and a harp while playing a triangle. On the rim is a decorative motif with winged harpies and leafy vines interrupted by two cartouches, within which are a drum and a small pipe organ. The decoration, executed almost in monochrome blue on a red-gold background, derives from a Renaissance archetype reproduced in the Recueil de faïences italiennes des XVe, XVIe et XVIIe siècles by Alfred Darcel and Henri Delange (1869). The precious repertoire is mentioned by the factory director Paolo Lorenzini in a letter from Paris in 1867 to Marquis Lorenzo Ginori Lisci, informing him that he had succeeded in obtaining it at a favorable purchase price. The repertoire consisted of numerous color plates with reproductions of the most beautiful Italian maiolicas at life size. Some evidence of the volume remains in the collection of the Museo Ginori’s archive in the form of clippings and loose sheets, indicating its use within the manufactory. The prominence of this piece is documented by known replicas, one of which is kept at the Francesco Borgogna Museum in Vercelli, while another is in a private collection.

Plate with figurative decoration and musical instruments

Plate with a pair of deer in a forest

In the early 1870s, the artistic direction of the manufactory was entrusted to the Calabrian painter Giuseppe Benassai. A professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, in 1871 he is noted for two maiolica vases to be presented at the Italian Exhibition in Milan, and as a decorator for six pieces to be sent to the Agricultural, Industrial and Fine Arts Exhibition in Trieste.
At the 1873 Vienna World Exposition, Benassai’s name is associated, among others, with the vase known as Colosso depicting the Fire in the Pampas (Ginori Museum, inv. 16) and four plates with the Continents, which are now lost. It is unclear whether his involvement was limited to the design of the composition or if he should also be considered the painter of the decoration on these pieces. Doubt about his possible direct role in the execution on maiolica also arises in the case of this plate, given the presence of the signature “Benassai made at Doccia.”
In any case, the care taken in representing naturalistic elements is evident, as also demonstrated by the plate presented here. At the center of a natural landscape wholly dominated by the trees of a forest is depicted a pair of deer grazing. Within the repertoire of decorations from the Ginori Manufactory, this is a novelty attributable to Benassai himself. The inspiration for this type of decoration did not come from direct observation of nature, but from printed iconographic sources introduced by the painter and reinterpreted in his compositions.

Giuseppe Benassai

The polychrome seat is shaped like a large perforated leaf (a monstera deliciosa), beneath which a capuchin monkey hides, clinging to a prickly pear plant. Seats of this type first appeared at the 1881 Milan Exhibition, along with others depicting a monkey under a banana leaf, or a griffin.&nbsp;
Before this date, Doccia produced garden seats decorated to imitate fabric coverings (inv. 7021), wicker (inv. 7025), or wood (inv. 7029), referred to in Doccia manufactory documents as “ornamental maiolica” or “for use.” However, as early as the 1870s, the manufactory showed an interest in creating sculptures modeled in the shape of exotic animals in maiolica, such as elephants, herons, tigers, and bears.&nbsp;
Zoological garden sculpture can likely be linked to the introduction in the factory of naturalistic models during the artistic direction of the painter Giuseppe Benassai. He drew inspiration for some decorations from a graphic print repertoire on animal life (La vie des animaux by A. Brehm), which some modelers and decorators at Doccia may have used as a reference for creating new pieces.&nbsp; It is certain that seats depicting monkeys were also produced by English factories as early as the 1860s, attesting to a widespread taste for garden furnishings with an exotic flair.&nbsp;

Late 19th century

Leaf-shaped seat with capuchin monkey

Seat

Referred to in the Doccia manufactory documents as “ornamental maiolica” or “for everyday use,” garden seats were distinguished from the artistic maiolica produced by Ginori since 1854 by simpler decoration and the practical purpose for which they were intended.&nbsp;
This cylindrical-shaped example is modeled in relief like a padded stool, upholstered with fabric featuring braid trim, pendants, and tassels. The painted decoration shows flowering branches, birds, and butterflies on a blue background, imitating textiles inspired by the East.&nbsp;
This type of seat was presented at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair as a “new model.” At Doccia, seats of various shapes were produced, such as the “three-cushion” stacked examples, with tassels hanging from the four corners of the cushions identical to those on ours, often lost due to impact damage. Later on, the Ginori manufactory also created seats with naturalistic themes, such as the leaf-shaped pierced model beneath which a capuchin monkey is hidden (inv. 7386).&nbsp;In the second half of the nineteenth century, these products were among the public’s favorites and enjoyed great success, as evidenced by sales and commissions recorded in the Exhibition registers preserved in the archives of the Museo Ginori.

Garden seat with curtains and tassels

Sketch for mesciroba vase and other decorations

The sketch preserved in the Archive of the Museo Ginori shows a mesciroba vase with a handle designed to imitate two serpents resting on a fantastical fish, whose mouth serves as a spout. This model, along with its decoration, is a variant copy of a vase produced in Urbino, dating to around 1580, now housed at the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence (inv. Bargello no. 59 M). The Raphael-esque ornaments were reproduced by the copyist on the side areas of the sheet, only in part, since, being symmetrical, they could easily be completed later. These are indicated with numbers from 1 to 4, which are also found on the vase body, quickly treated with chiaroscuro. The numbering suggests the original placement where the decorations should be positioned. Number 1 at the top left, featuring a mascaron and a scroll inhabited by a bird, refers to the neck of the vase, while just below on the shoulder was number 2, with a zoomorphic motif and a central crest visible on the left. The body of the mesciroba contained a grotesque of putti with a faux medallion depicting Apollo with a lyre, marked with number 3 on the right. The last section, indicated by the number 4, was reserved for the decoration of griffins at the bottom.&nbsp;
In the second half of the nineteenth century, under the direction of Lorenzo Ginori Lisci, the Manifattura Ginori developed an extensive repertoire of artistic ceramics imitating Renaissance maiolica. To this end, some decorators active in Doccia copied originals then preserved at the Royal Galleries of Florence, which could be faithfully reproduced or with variations to be presented at national and international exhibitions. The Ariana Museum in Geneva preserves a Ginori maiolica example corresponding to this sketch (inv. AR 07090).&nbsp;

Sketch for mixing vase and other decorations

Giovanni Muzzioli, Vaso con satiro e decoro a raffaellesche

This mesciroba vase in polychrome painted maiolica features a "a raffaellesche" decoration on the body, while a satyr, almost functioning as a handle, supports a leaf at the mouth, which takes the shape of a pourer. The mythological figure resting on the rim recalls solutions adopted between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for bronze and silver vases.&nbsp;
The design of the Museo Ginori specimen is attributed to the painter Giovanni Muzzioli, to whom only the creation of a second vase at the Doccia factory is certainly credited.&nbsp;
The vase model (mod. 244) was present at the Milan Exhibition of 1881, Rome of 1889, and Palermo of 1891. The decoration of our specimen is still listed in a catalog of Ginori artistic maiolica products dated around 1905, but we do not know exactly when it was introduced. Besides the "a raffaellesche" version, there was also a decoration with groups of swallows flying in the blue sky, documented in the Museo Ginori archive by a watercolor drawing (inv. Disegni/110) and certainly exhibited at the 1888 Italian Exhibition in London.&nbsp;

Giovanni Muzzioli

Vase with satyr and Raphael-style decoration

The San Giovanni Evangelista of the Museo Ginori is the white porcelain translation of a figure mentioned in the eighteenth-century Inventory of Models of the manufactory, which records a “S. Giovanni Evangelista with an open book under the left arm and an eagle on the base.” Jennifer Montagu has recently proposed identifying the sculptor Giovan Battista Maini as the author of the prototype of our specimen, whose compositional design is attributed to Camillo Rusconi, with whom he is presumed to have collaborated in Rome on the creation of the Apostles in the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
The porcelain of the Museo Ginori shares points of connection with a gilt bronze statue of the same subject made in 1766 by the silversmith Leandro Gagliardi for Cardinal Flavio Chigi, now at the Art Institute of Chicago (h 55 cm). Aside from dimensional differences and some variants in the modeling, it is clear that the two pieces, produced at different times, derive from a common prototype, likely to be identified as an earlier model made by Gagliardi himself. We know that plaster casts of Apostles figures arrived from Rome to Livorno in August 1754 and that some of these had been made for Carlo Ginori from molds never used before then. This type of artifact demonstrates the interest of the Doccia Manufactory in creating porcelain translations not only from ancient art and late Baroque Florentine art but also from models derived from sculptural examples by eighteenth-century Roman artists.

By Giovan Battista Maini (attributed), after a design by Camillo Rusconi (with variations)

Saint John the Evangelist

Early Nineteenth Century

Laocoonte da Filippo della Valle, su invenzione di Baccio Bandinelli, con varianti

The Laocoön group in plaster, preserved at the Museo Ginori, is a reduction of the monumental ancient marble held in the Vatican Museums, in the <a href="https://www.uffizi.it/opere/laocoonte-bandinelli">reinterpretation</a> (Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi) commissioned in 1520 by Pope Leo X to Baccio Bandinelli, as a tribute to Francesco I, King of France.&nbsp;
The Florentine version differs from the Vatican group in the pose of the Trojan priest’s right arm and in the knot of the serpent’s coils that entwine him because at the time the original arm had not yet been recovered.
In the Inventory of Models of the Manifattura di Doccia&nbsp; (1791-1806)&nbsp;there is a record of a Laocoön in wax with its form, indicated as the work of the late Baroque sculptor Giovan Battista Foggini, whose son Vincenzo was paid by the manufactory in 1748 for creating this cast.&nbsp;
<div>Mentioned as a copy of Foggini in the nineteenth-century inventory named Gallery of Models, this plaster - presumably made to replace the deteriorated wax model - shares many points of contact with a bronze example, today in a private collection.&nbsp;</div>
<div>Recently Dimitrios Zikos identified the young Filippo della Valle as the author of the model from which the plaster cast presented here was derived. The scholar chronologically placed it before Della Valle’s departure for Rome, when he was still working in the workshop of his uncle Giovan Battista Foggini, his first master.</div>
Of this example there also exists <a href="https://museopoldipezzoli.it/ceramiche/#/dettaglio/121858_Laocoonte">an eighteenth-century porcelain translation</a>&nbsp;preserved at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan.

Plaster

by Filippo della Valle, based on the design by Baccio Bandinelli, with variations

Laocoonte

Model

Derived from a form typical of Etruscan art, the model of the casket with lid paired with the most refined decorations was considered by Gio Ponti a true summa of the artistic quality of the porcelains he designed for Richard-Ginori. The version decorated in bright blue and agate-point gold is part of the decorative series Trionfi, conceived by Ponti and presented at the 1st Milan Triennale in 1930, where a specimen with a dedication and variants was gifted to the Duce.&nbsp;
The body of the vase features the Triumphus Amoris (Triumph of Love) and the Triumphus Mortis (Triumph of Death), accompanied by their respective arches adorned with doves, flowers, ribbons, and the tree of life for the former; cords, draperies, and laurel wreath for the latter. Added to these are small symbols such as the cornucopia, putto, drapery, and comet. The theme alludes to the military triumphs customary in ancient Rome, though reimagined allegorically as in Francesco Petrarca’s poem Trionfi.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The choice of bright blue and agate-point gold colors is inspired by the Empire-style decorations of the Sèvres manufactory, which Ponti himself references in his letters to the factory.&nbsp; In ancient decorations, the refined agate gold technique was mainly used for bands and borders, whereas in this case it becomes the absolute protagonist of the decoration, demonstrating Ponti’s skill in enhancing artisanal knowledge with modern inventions that would otherwise be confined to imitative production.&nbsp;

Cista Triumphus Mortis and Triumphus Amoris

XX Century 2nd half 

Giovanni Gariboldi, Uno più Uno set brochure

One Plus One represents the new solution proposed by Giovanni Gariboldi in 1970 to reduce the bulk of household use sets. As with the contemporary Eco service, the designer worked on stackability and the elimination of handles, but in this case, to avoid burns, he chose to double all the containers so that each cup and each coffee pot or milk jug is actually made up of two elements that fit into each other, thermally insulating the beverage. Thanks to the use of two different shades of blue, the fitting also creates a decorative effect based on the two-tone color scheme.&nbsp;
The One Plus One service was awarded at Macef (Exhibition of household articles at the Milan Fair) in 1970 and is one of Giovanni Gariboldi’s last projects, as he passed away in 1971 after dedicating much of his career to the Società Ceramica Richard-Ginori.&nbsp;

Service One plus One - Advertising Brochure

Giovanni Gariboldi, Colonna set (advertisement image)

The Colonna set is a cornerstone of Italian industrial design of the post-war period and one of the first stackable sets in Europe. Equally innovative was its packaging, which displayed the stacked items in cross-section, at life size.&nbsp;
The collection was designed by Giovanni Gariboldi in 1954 to participate in the first edition of the Compasso d’oro competition, winning first prize because, according to the jury, it “responds with essential volumes to the functional purpose that determines it, a purpose found in the extreme reduction of occupied space.”&nbsp;
The subsequent version, illustrated in the leaflet pictured, is partly less strict but more versatile than the first as it also allows the addition of certain elements, such as serving dishes and broth cups that did not follow the perfect cylindrical unity of the original design. The pieces could be purchased in blue boxes for six people or individually.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The modern approach combined with the aesthetic quality of the essential decoration and functionality was also recognized in the second edition of the set, which received the Gold Medal from the President of the Senate in 1967 at the International Faenza Ceramics Competition and remained in production for years at the Pisa and Lambrate factories.&nbsp;

Column Service

In 1985, Richard-Ginori turned to nine masters of Italian design to create prototypes for the tableware of the future. Among them was the Milanese architect Aldo Rossi, who, among other things, took on the creation of a pitcher and three containers with lids. The prototypes conceived by Rossi on this occasion reflect some of the stylistic features of his architectural thinking, foremost among them the use of simple geometric shapes, such as the cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder, which combine and vary to bring the objects to life.
The pitcher consists of the merging of two profiles that intersect in a directional contrast of simple lines. The vertical development of the truncated conical body is interrupted and contrasted by the spout, which fits into the initial shape and, together with the hollow silhouette of the handle, completes the fusion between the two primary triangular forms.
The containers with lids are spheres, their surfaces interrupted only by the joint line between lid and body. The knobs echo the dominant shape on a smaller scale, while the side handles are simple elements functional to practical usability.
Rossi’s creations for Richard-Ginori are part of a creative journey through industrial design that, during the same years, had led him to the design of products for the brand Alessi. Some impressions already present in the prototypes at the Ginori Museum culminated in 1994 in the design of soup tureens for the “Il Faro” line for the Rosenthal brand.

Aldo Rossi

Prototypes of pitchers and containers with lids

Prototypes

First-class set for Alitalia

In the second half of the twentieth century, Richard-Ginori’s collaboration with leading figures of Italian and international design yielded results of remarkable interest. Among these is the first-class onboard service called Linea ‘72, designed by Joe Colombo and Ambrogio Pozzi, with the collaboration of Ignazia Favata, for the Italian flagship airline Alitalia. 
The service, made of high-fired porcelain to ensure greater durability of the pieces, is characterized by an unusual design that combined practicality, stability, resistance, and compactness in a small space. Perfectly stackable and combinable, the tableware stands out for its simple shapes and the cut edges of the plates, which reduce bulk while maintaining two side handles for grip. This detail, besides becoming a decorative element, was functional for nesting the various pieces both in the service trays and in the cabin cupboard shelves. A purely functional element is the circular protrusion at the center of the smallest saucer, which fits into the recess on the bottom of plates of the same type and the cups, thereby ensuring their stability. 
The first-class service for Alitalia won the gold medal from the President of the Republic at the 31st International Contemporary Art Ceramics Competition in Faenza in 1973, in the category of use and functional products.

Joe Colombo, Ambrogio Pozzi

First-Class Service for Alitalia

The cup is decorated with the theme called Funérailles de Thais, although Gio Ponti initially titled it Funérailles de Venus. The decoration is mentioned in a letter by Ponti himself from 1925, a circumstance that allows it to be dated and included among the novelties presented by Richard-Ginori at the Monza and Paris exhibitions of that year. Later, the female figure becomes Thais, perhaps an allusion to the literary character protagonist of the 1890 novel of the same name by Anatole France, adapted into an opera by Jules Massenet (1894) and later also into a futurist film by Anton Giulio Bragaglia (1926).&nbsp;
A beautiful actress, Thais is here depicted already dead, naked, with shoes on her feet. Surrounded by symbols of luxury and vanity such as the carpet and the mirror, she is supported by two male figures wearing tailcoats. The scene also seems reminiscent of the iconography of the transport of a deceased typical of Etruscan art. The pose of the figures is similar, for example, to a bronze cista handle preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. The decoration applied to cups and bowls decorated in polychrome with bands inside and outside, and shaded checks at the foot, was subsequently varied in chromatic use and in the neutral background.

Funerals Cup of Thais

Gio Ponti, Fantini (or Ippica) cup

The decoration, initially called Ippica, was designed by Ponti in 1929 and depicts the silks of the main horse racing stables of the 1920s. The choice of subject reflects the popularity this discipline enjoyed at the time, a social phenomenon as well as a sport, greatly appealing to the public. 
The cup rests on a truncated conical base, a later variant of a shape introduced by Ponti as early as 1924. The white background is divided into three overlapping registers of racing silks in the colors of each team. Joined together by the sleeves to form a chain, these are bordered at the top by the shapes of the caps and at the bottom by the stable’s name in gold. An invention that happily combines the utmost simplification of the design with the chromatic strength and allure of the horse racing theme. 
Ponti also had smaller versions of this decoration made, to be applied to ashtrays of various shapes and sizes.

Fantini Cup (or Equestrian)

In the Mongolfiere bowl, the theme of flight gives rise to a dreamy and playful depiction, made particularly precious by the gold details and the shaded segment decoration on the interior. On the outer surface, a stormy sky is painted with colored clouds and balloons moved by the wind.
Exhibited by Richard-Ginori at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza, the bowl remained in production at least until 1928, a date indicated on the mark, which in this case refers to the production of the blank object. The hot air balloon motif was later reintroduced by Ponti in a simpler version titled Celesio, to make it more accessible to a wider audience (inv. 3192).

Bolo Hot Air Balloons

Bolo

The oval cup Fabrizia depicts, against a backdrop of a deep blue sky, a nude female figure reclining on clouds, with bent knees and intertwined hands. It belongs to the family of decorations called by Gio Ponti Le Mie Donne, designed to adorn hand-painted maiolica art objects. Slender figures suspended on clouds already appear at the center of some plates presented at the 1923 Biennale of Monza, but it is the following year that the decoration was developed and finalized for a series of large ornamental plates.&nbsp;
The rim of each plate is decorated with a pattern of quadrangular balusters framing the protagonist, identified by a pose and an architectural motif of classical influence.&nbsp; The name assigned to each woman further helps to characterize the figure.&nbsp; Ponti, through the simplification of outlines and the invention of airy and uninhibited poses, renews motifs of art and Mannerist aesthetics with an ironic twist.&nbsp;
Between late 1924 and 1925, the decoration was extended from plates to round and oval cups, where however architectural views are absent - and to some vases. In 1925 the series was presented at the Paris exhibition and the second Biennale of Monza.

Fabrizia Oval Bowl

One of Gio Ponti’s most original inventions is certainly the pierced disc, conceived between 1928 and 1929. Originally available in three different sizes, its shape resembles the so-called bi disc, an artifact used in ancient China for funeral rites, but it may also have been inspired by the monstrance of the Catholic liturgy. In both cases, Ponti’s ironic reference to sacred iconography and the supernatural presences alluded to by the decoration is evident.&nbsp;
Designed by Ponti in the same period, the Exorcism decoration features a radial motif on one side and a tight composition of stylized figures on the other, some recognizable (such as the book with the alpha and omega, the sun, the grate, the tongs, the wheel) and others more difficult to decipher. The result is a sort of playful parody of a ritual object with references to esotericism and witchcraft. Many of the elements present in Exorcism would reappear some time later, arranged in a similar manner as trophies, in the Pontesca decoration (inv. 6790). The function of this artifact is uncertain: in price lists it is indicated as a paperweight or pierced disc, but in later literature it has been described as a clock holder.

Perforated Disc Exorcism

Gio Ponti, Alzata "Le attività gentili"

The shape of this compote, described by Gio Ponti himself in a letter dated July 13, 1924, as a ‘baluster cup,’ dates back to 1923 and is here combined with the decoration Le Attività gentili in red and gold figures, designed by Gio Ponti in the same year for the International Biennial of Decorative Arts in Monza.&nbsp;
It depicts six allegories of human activities and, at the center, the progenitors of the species. The more extensive version of the decoration was created in blue and gold, for a plate of which one example is housed at the Ginori Museum (inv. 3514). In addition to traditional arts, the eighteen original representations include modern activities such as Aviation; however, identifying the individual allegories is not straightforward;&nbsp; among those present on the cup are architecture, floriculture, and beekeeping. At the 1925 Paris exhibition, purchasers received an explanatory card detailing their meaning, but unfortunately no copy is known to exist. The figures on the small plate were also used individually or in groups to decorate other objects.&nbsp;

Alzata The gentle activities

Rise

In the second half of the 1920s, the Manifattura di Doccia created a table centerpiece masterpiece, intended for furnishing the diplomatic offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The monumental ensemble, composed of many pieces, was designed by Gio Ponti with the collaboration of Tomaso Buzzi (probably only for the initial draft of the armory trophies) and the sculptor Italo Griselli for the modeling. The centerpiece is largely made up of white porcelain elements painted in agate gold by Elena Diana, the most skilled practitioner of this technique at the Manifattura di Doccia.&nbsp;
The main element of the eclectic composition, which revives a typically eighteenth-century genre but also draws on the ancient world, is the figure of the Italia turrita (inv. 5366), seated on a huge shell and surrounded by mirrors that allude to the surface of the sea. The allegorical depiction of Italy with a turreted head is frequent in monumental statuary from the time of National Unification onwards; inspired by the pose of the Tyche of Antioch, Ponti reimagined it in an Art Deco version, with a dress revealing its slender forms and confident attitude. The shell serving as her throne, embellished with draperies, pearls, corals and other crustaceans, probably alludes to Mediterranean dominance during the years of colonialism and the Empire.&nbsp;
All around are arranged small and large sculptures taken from the ancient repertoire depicting plants and animals, such as the Seahorse (inv. 3054), the Putto riding a dolphin (inv. 3053) and the Dog biting a snake (inv. 3057) in a play of references to Italian culture, history and nature.&nbsp;
The exact date and the manner in which Gio Ponti was commissioned to design the ensemble remain not entirely clear to this day, but art historian Roberto Papini, advisor for embassy furnishings and admirer of Gio Ponti, certainly played an important role. Ponti’s first contacts with the Ministry for the design of the table centerpiece date back to 1925, but the final version was not approved until 1929.&nbsp; This included also decorative elements, such as the imperial eagle, the Roman she-wolf and two military trophies with fasces, which are not present in the Museum’s version and were imposed, in whole or with modifications, directly from Rome. Some elements, such as the Italia, were presented at the 1927 Monza Biennial of Decorative Arts. The centerpiece was reserved exclusively for the Ministry and the various parts were each marked with a different letter of the alphabet and the inscription "Ministero degli Esteri," designed by Ponti himself. However, later on, some pieces, sometimes with slight variants, were made available for sale, as confirmed by some examples that have appeared on the market and are now in private collections.

Centerpiece for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Gio Ponti, Servizio Ala, Zuppiera e piatto

The Ala tableware set was designed by Ponti between the end of 1929 and the beginning of 1930. It is characterized by the tureen with handles shaped like stylized wings, which is mentioned in documents dating back to October 1929. In a note regarding one of his visits to the manufactory, dated January 10, 1930, Ponti lists the subjects planned for the decoration of the various pieces: "a) triumph b) dragon c) fragment d) phoenix e) pair of swans f) flying swan g) flying mermaid queen".&nbsp;
All the small motifs share the presence of wings. Some of them, such as the triumphal chariot or the flying mermaid, also appear in larger form on other porcelain objects designed by Ponti during the same period. The theme of winged figures is particularly dear to Ponti, who continued to use it throughout his entire career.&nbsp;
The decorations are all made using the precious hydrofluoric acid engraving technique, which, by etching the porcelain glaze, allows for a slight relief and a contrast between glossy and matte gold. The set was presented at the 1930 Monza Triennale and partially illustrated in the Ceramiche Moderne d'Arte [1930], p. 68), and in Domus (August 1930, p. 36), where the selling price is listed as 2,900 lire.&nbsp;

Artworks

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