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Ceramic tableware

Highly sought-after creations with an exotic taste, small sculptural groups made specifically to accompany desserts, services that have become true icons of an era and design prototypes: from the eighteenth century through the entire twentieth century, the Manifattura Ginori has written some of the most significant chapters in the history of tableware art.

The extraordinary collection of table objects of the Museo Ginori tells both the birth of the shapes and decorations that would identify the style of the manufactory for centuries and the ability to rethink the form and function of objects to adapt them to the progressive changes in taste and the clients’ needs.

Cylindrical white vase with blue decorations and a lid topped with a lion-shaped handle

Eighteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori (duplicate) (duplicate)

Eighteenth Century

Fruit bowl decorated with an undergrowth scene

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Eighteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori (duplicate) (duplicate)

Three tableware pieces in white porcelain with stem handles and bodies decorated with raised daisies

Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Coffee pot, sugar bowl, and milk jug with daisies

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White and black plate and cups

XX Century 2nd half

First-Class Service for Alitalia

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Eighteenth Century

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

Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori en (duplicate)

White plate with green leaves and two orange fruits

Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori en

Caffettiera con il Supplizio di Marsia e il Giudizio di Paride

Eighteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori (duplicate)

White tazza with zoomorphic feet and polychrome decorations featuring Oriental-inspired motifs

Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Busto del Marchese Ginori (duplicate)

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Four white tableware objects with multicolored floral decorations

Eighteenth Century

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

XX Century 2nd half

Prototypes of pitchers and containers with lids

Gio Ponti, Servizio Ala, Zuppiera e piatto

Early Twentieth Century

Soup tureen and four plates from the Ala service

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Overall view of the centerpiece.

Gio Ponti

The years during which Richard-Ginori was directed by Gio Ponti were one of the most artistically successful periods in its history.

The ceramics he designed starting from 1923 constitute a very important part of the Museo Ginori collection. Comprising more than four hundred works, the Ponti collection includes both small mass-produced objects and masterpieces never replicated, such as the large vase La Conversazione classica and the imposing centerpiece for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Irony, elegance, and a brilliant reinvention of the antiquity are some of the ingredients that made Ponti’s production an international success and an excellent example of Art Déco taste.

Useful

“Useful” products, such as everyday tableware, have been the true source of profit for the Manifattura Ginori since its origins.

From the second half of the nineteenth century, with the proliferation of ceramic applications in the industrial field, a significant portion of Ginori’s - and later Richard-Ginori’s – production consisted of insulators for telegraphs, components for the silk industry, and laboratory porcelain.

Finally, it is road signage, tiles, baking dishes, and pharmacy jars that mark the definitive entry of the Manifattura Ginori into the daily life of all Italians.

Giovanni Gariboldi

Having joined the S. Cristoforo factory in 1926, when he was just eighteen years old, Giovanni Gariboldi immediately earned the appreciation of Gio Ponti, who prepared him to carry on his legacy in the field of Richard-Ginori art ceramics.

Drawing inspiration from Eastern art, textiles, fashion, and nature, Gariboldi created new forms with strong plastic emphasis and experimented with refined chromatic and tactile effects.

His sensitivity - proved invaluable for the manufactory even when the company’s changed strategy - led him to focus mainly on the functional design of tableware, sanitary ware, and tiles.

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