Italian Retro oval “Buckle” ring, 18K gold with a Florentine finish, marked, c. 1940’s
Length: 50 inches Width of the turquoise beads: 3/8 of an inch
Weight: 2.01 Troy ounces TW / 62.6 grams / 40.3 pennyweights
ITALIAN MAJOLICA
Pair of “Rose” wall pockets c. 1885
Three dimensional realistically rendered pink roses with leaf and stems all in the Barbotine technique
Marks: Made in Italy
Barbotine is the French term for ceramic slip or a mixture of clay and water for molding or decorating pottery. This technique was used to create applied adornments on 19th century majolica items.
H: 13″ x W: 7 1/4″ x D: 4 1/4″
Weight: 6.88 Troy ounces / 214.2 grams
FONTANA ARTE Milan, Italy
“Glass fruit” bookends c. 1950
Glass, chromium-plated brass
For more information see: Fontana Arte, Una storia Trasparente, Laura Falconi (Milan: Skira, 1998).
H: 5” x W: 3 3/8” x D: 5”
Price: $3,500
1950’s ITALIAN DESIGN
Futurist pitcher c. 1950
Handwrought and hand hammered pewter in an overall footed ovoid form with a traingle form spout body and an elongated arching contoured handle
Marked: PELTRO with lion, MADE ITALIA
H: 15″ x W: 9″ x D: 4″
Price: $6,000
The 1958 classic film, Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, features this sculptural pitcher on the coffee table in the surrealist interior of Mame Dennis’ penthouse on Beekman Place #3, New York City.
SALVATORE MELI (b. 1929) Italy
Important Sculpture / Ewer 1952
Glazed terra cotta, brown and dark green with white scraffito decoration, original stepped and angular wood base.
Signed: Meli 1952 Roma
For more info on Meli see: Design 1935-1965, What Modern was, ed. Martin Eidelberg (New York: Harry Abrams, 1991) p. 237.
Salvatore Meli belongs to that initial group of artists, including Guido Gambone and Lucio Fontana among others, who elevated Italian ceramics to a fine art during the post-war period. Meli conceived this vessel, first on paper, then by laboriously constructing the body in clay, coil by coil, to achieve the richly textured and dynamic form; the incised and painted decoration is in concert with the organic shape. The massive scale of this work defies function as a ewer but was created as a sculptural object. The original wooden base recalls Italian futurist sculpture forms of the early twentieth century.
H (with base): 23 1/2” x W: 13” x D: 9.5”
H (without base): 19 1/8”
Price: $27,500
AV MAZZEGA MURANO (Italy)
Vase c. 1975
White opalescent blue blown glass with a bottom tube support and a flared
test tube style top
For related information see: Italian Glass Murano Milan 1930-1970, Helmut Ricke and Eva Schmitt (Munich: Prestel, 1997) illus. 66, 67; I Vetri di Fulvio Bianconi, Rossana Bossaglia (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1993) illus. 17, 21; Murano Glas 1945-1970, Marc Heiremans (Antwerpen: Galerij Novecento, 1989) illus. 181; I Vetri Venini, Franco Deboni (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989) illus. 105.
H: 14”
Price: $3,200