Vase of Women and Architectures
Gio Ponti
The jar decorated with women and architectural structures belongs to the series Le Mie Donne, one of the most famous and admired decorative groups 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 colour combinations.
Female figures reclining on clouds already appear at the centre of some plates presented at the 1923 Biennale di Monza. But it was the following year that the decoration was elaborated and finalized, 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 was displayed 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.
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Vase of Women and Architectures
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Vase of Women and Architectures
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Vase of Women and Architectures
The jar decorated with women and architectural structures belongs to the series Le Mie Donne, one of the most famous and admired decorative groups 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 colour combinations.
Female figures reclining on clouds already appear at the centre of some plates presented at the 1923 Biennale di Monza. But it was the following year that the decoration was elaborated and finalized, 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 was displayed 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.
