Piero Fornasetti Ceramics Catalogue Summer 2013
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge Inc.
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Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge Inc. Known for our collections of 18th and 19th century antique ceramics, we have long been interested in the works of the 20th century too. Please enjoy this foray into the world of the modern and, in particular, the production of Piero Fornasetti, one of its principal designers. Tel: 212-308-2022 Email: info@vandekar.com & Web: www.vandekar.com Address: PO Box 55, Maryknoll, NY 10545
Vintage Piero Fornasetti ceramics and other objects celebrating the illustrious career of this prolific and creative 20th century designer in the 100th anniversary year of his birth.
The Fornasetti web site states that “Fornasetti is celebrated as being among the most original creative talents of the twentieth century. During his career he created a visual vocabulary that is instantly recognisable and unceasingly engaging. Fornasetti designed a magical world, saturated in image and colour and filled with whimsy and wit�. 2
A Set of Four Piero Fornasetti Egocentrismo Plates, Circa 1950's
Diameter: 10 1/4 inches (26cm)
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, page 617, # 172-173. Originally a set of six plates named Egocentrismo (Egocentralism).
Price: $3,000.00 for set of four
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A Vintage Sole Ashtray by Piero Fornasetti, 1950's
This form was made as an ashtray in the 1950's and 1960's. Fornasetti created 244 different designs. There are two original pierced holes in the reverse and thus the disks are also designed to be hung on the wall.
Dimensions: Diameter: 5 inches x Height: 1 1/4 inches
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 577.
Price: $750 4
A Set of Three Rare Vintage Piero Fornasetti Italian Pizza Recipe Plates, Circa 1955. Pizza alla Margherita, Pizza alla Napoletana, Pizza alla Paoletta
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 615, #164 for a colour illustration. This series was made in Italian, French and English.
Price: $1,250 for set of three
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Five Piero Fornasetti Astrolabe Plates, Dated 1965 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.
Dimensions: Diameter: 9 3/8 inches
Price: $850 each
Sold with original malachite papered box.
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ASTROLABE An astrolabe (Greek: astrolabon, "star-taker") is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa, surveying, triangulation, and to cast horoscopes. It was used in classical antiquity, through the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance for all these purposes. In the Islamic world, it was also used to calculate the Qibla and to find the times for Salah, prayers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Astrolabe)
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A Set of Twelve Piero Fornasetti Black & White Plates Depicting Eve, Designed 1954 A complete set of vintage black and white transferprinted plates which as a group depict Eve.
Dimensions: 10 1/2 inches
Reference: Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams, Patrick Mauriès, page 238, the author writes- “The idea of dividing up the bodies of Adam and Eve into twelve dinner plates is surely one that no one but Fornasetti. They were made in 1954. Each plate has its attractions, but like a jigsaw puzzle they only reveal their meaning when seen together.”
Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 600, # 122 for an Adam and an Eve in the 4 inch coaster format. (see next page)
Price: $5,500.00 for complete set
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Two Complete Sets of Eight Piero Fornasetti Adam & Eve Coasters in Original Boxes Dimensions: Diameter: 4 inches
Price: $1,250 for each set
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Seven Different Piero Fornasetti Cook Plates, Commissioned by Fleming Joffe, Silkscreen & Transfer, Early 1970's. Diameter: 10 1/4 inches
Sold with original boxes
Price: $500 each
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(above: label available with some of the boxes) These Cook Plates were given as New Year gifts to clients by the Fleming-Joffe Company. These whimsical plates feature “Improbable recipes� with real and fantasy ingredients.
The Fleming Joffe company was a small leather goods company in New York. Fornasetti was not the only famous artist this company worked with. Andy Warhol produced ads and copy for them with Fleming Joffe commissioning Ogden Nash to pair his bouncy text with Warhol's drawings. Warhol also decorated their show booths and showroom. Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 614, #163 for a colour illustration of one of a set of twelve promotional plates made for the Fleming & Joffe company in the early 1970's. Fornasetti writes, Each of the twelve subjects in this series presents a decidedly improbable recipe.
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A Set of Twelve Early Piero Fornasetti Coloured Month Plates of the Sun, Mid-Century. The set of twelve early Piero Fornasetti calendar plates are amusingly decorated with sun motifs, printed marks and labels to bases, some marked Arzberg.
Diameter: 9.8 inches (25cm)
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, pages 212 & 213 for illustrations printed by hand called Lunario del sole (Solar Almanac) which were made in 1942 and which were adapted to a circular shape for these plates in a series called Dodici soli, dodici mesi (Twelve Suns, Twelve Months) which were made in the early 1950's.
Fornasetti, Designer of Dreams, Patrick Mauries, pages 224-5 for illustration of a set of plates. Mauries writes, For two years Gio Ponte commissioned a calendar or diary from Fornasetti as a present for his friends, consisting of twelve drawings illustrating the months. Fornasetti continued this tradition by printing a similar calendar for himself. The theme for 1942 was the Sun- Lunario del Sole, the Almanac of the Sun. Later Fornasetti converted his designs into dinner plates. It was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with the image of the Sun, here equated with a woman's face.
Price: $10,000.00 for set of twelve
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Piero Fornasetti was obviously strongly influenced by the much earlier work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Italian: also spelled Arcimboldi) (1526 or 1527 – July 11, 1593) who was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books – that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject. (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo)
A Piero Fornasetti Arcimboldesca-Motif Vegetable Face Plate, #2 Circa 1960's. Diameter: 8 ½ inches (21.5 cm) The plate is from a set of twelve after Arcimboldo-the design of a face created with the use of vegetables. They are hand painted and the painters' mark C.P. can be seen on the reverse. Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, Illustrated: p 616, #168 for a 10 1/4 inch example.
Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams, Patrick Mauries, Page 259, top of page for a set of these plates.
Price: $350
A Rare Fornasetti Vegetalia Face Plate, #12 in Series, Circa 1955.
The plate depicts a woman's face created by the positioning of different vegetables to create a side profile.
Diameter: 10 inches
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A Set of Three Piero Fornasetti Arcimboldesca-Motif Vegetable Face Plates, Circa 1960-70’s.
Diameter: 9 inches
Price: $1,250 for set of three
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A Piero Fornasetti Basin-shaped Pipe Ashtray. 1950-60's A rectangular footed ashtray decorated with two ornate pipes
Dimensions: 4 1/4 inches x 5 1/2 inches length
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, page 572, #52-54 for a selection of similar trays.
Price: $550.00
A Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Ring Ashtray, 1960's. Dimensions: 3-3/8 inches wide x 5-1/4 inches long x 11/16 inches high on the corners.
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 576, #61, where a goldground example is illustrated.
Price: $1,950
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A Rare Piero Fornasetti Matador Plate, Tori & Toreri Pattern, Circa 1962.
This rare plate has perfectly captured the energy of the bull charging the bullfighter's swooshing cape with a balletic grace. Beginning in 1960 and continuing through the early 1980s Bloomingdale's shot to international fame with block-bluster shopping events sourcing specially-created pieces from all over the world. Bloomingdale's Romance Everlasting promotion took place in 1962, thus providing an accurate age and provenance of this unusual Fornasetti plate. This limited-edition piece was available only in the NYC Flagship Store. Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 616, #167 Tori e toreri (Bulls & Bullfighters) & 616 for another illustrated. Price: $400.00
A Vintage Piero Fornasetti Coffee Set from the Architettura Series, 1950's. The set of six cups and saucers with original box. One cup with crack.
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 586, #84 where the cups are described as one of the most successful sets produced.
Price: $2,000.00 for set 19
A Piero Fornasetti Bird Plate, Uccelli Calligrafici Series (Calligraphic Birds), Circa 1962.
The plate depicts a hand painted stylized bird in black on white ground. Numbered #2 from a set of six.
Dimensions: 10 1/4 inch diameter Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, page 607, #135 for a colour illustration of a table setting created for a show in Stuttgart in 1962 where the table is set with this series which translates as Calligraphic birds. Price: $200 20
A Set of Eight Vintage Piero Fornasetti Sun & Moon Coasters. The coasters are decorated with eight different images of a Sun or Moon face and are numbered 1-8. They come with their original box. Dimensions: Diameter: 4 inches Reference: Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams, Patrick Mauries, Page 226 for an illustration of a similar set. And on page 228 where the author describes the coasters and comments that The Sun was eventually recognized as one of Fornasetti’s personal devices.
Price: $1,800.00 21
A Set of Eight Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Musicalia Coasters with Original Box, 1970's.
Each coaster with a different musical instrument entwined in ribbons, outlined in black and resting on a gold ground.
Dimensions: 1/16".
Diameter
is
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Marks: Signed Fornasetti Milano Made in Italy Exclusive for Bonwit Teller Musicalia
Price: $750 for set
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A Set of Eight Coasters and Original Box decorated with Antichi Planisferi Maps.
1960's.
Price: $600
A Piero Fornasetti Giostra di Frutta Plate, Circa 1960's.
The pattern Giostra di Frutta translates as a Merry -go-round of fruit.
Diameter: 10 1/4 inches
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, page 616 for illustration of another in series.
Price: $400
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A Vintage Piero Fornasetti Trompe L'oeil Piscibus Plate, #4 from Series. Circa 1955
Dimensions: Diameter: 10 1/4 inches
The plate printed and painted in colours with a trompe l'oeil fish on a blue and white landscape and border.
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, page 615 for colour illustration of all six plates in series.
Price: $950
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A Massive Piero Fornasetti Special Commission Plaque, 1950's. A Large coloured panel designed for the Hilton in Istanbul by Piero Fornasetti.
The plaque features Iznik Pottery Vessels and Ceramic Tiles in shades of blue and red. It is a hand-painted lithograph, transfer-printed onto Masonite. Condition is excellent.
Dimensions: 47 inches x 23 1/2 inches wide.
Reference: Published in Fornasetti The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 456, #121. Price: $9,850
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A Piero Fornasetti Insulator Paper weight- The New Key To Dreams, With original box. Late 1950’s Dimensions: Height: 3 3/4" high
This is a great piece from Italian designer Piero Fornasetti's line of ceramic insulators, cleverly repurposed into paperweight pen rests and decorated with wonderfully wry designs.
This is the very collectible English-language version of "The New [Key] to Dreams," a post -Surrealist legend to dream interpretation. If you dream of a mushroom, it may warn of deception....a butterfly, of wantonness....and so on.
This insulator was probably produced by the Ginori factory for Fornasetti's studio. Mark: Fornasetti, Milano - Made in Italy.
See: A related paperweight in form and design at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum number:C.67-1985 (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/ O170023/paperweight-fornasetti-piero/)
Price: $400 26
An Unusual Metal Fornasetti Fish Tray, The large oval tray depicts line of fish alternating in different directions with light blue bodies and yellow fins.
Dimensions: Length: 23 inches x 10 inches wide
Mark: #27 of 90 Fornasetti. Milano/ Made in Italy
Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 526, image # 45.
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A Piero Fornasetti Umbrella Stand, Ombrelli e bastoni (Umbrellas and Canes.) Lithographically printed. Circa 1950's -Early 1960's. The umbrella stand with a red ground decorated with 13 umbrellas, walking sticks and riding crops has a green interior, its original aluminum drip pan (later examples have plastic ones) and a brass band at rim.
Dimensions: 22 inches high x 10 inches across. Reference: Fornasetti, The Complete Universe, edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 460 for illustration of this design in ivory with colour guide on paper. The colour guide was used by the colorist in the atelier to accurately reproduce the image. Page 468, #42 for discussion of development of this type of umbrella stand and illustration of same color ground. Also page 472, #62 for a similar example. Price: $2,000
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