Designed by Gio Ponti for Richard Ginori in the 1930s, it represents a significant example of the collaboration between the Milanese designer and the historic San Cristoforo manufactory, a fundamental experience for the renewal of twentieth-century Italian decorative arts. During Ponti’s artistic direction, Richard Ginori in fact developed a production capable of combining ceramic tradition, formal elegance and modern sensibility.
In this work, the structure of the vase is defined by a balanced profile, with narrow neck and low foot, elements that help to create a compact and harmonious form. However, what most characterizes the object is the richness of the decorative repertoire. The surface is in fact animated by alternating bands with an interwoven motif recalling the texture of straw, a graphic solution that introduces rhythm and visual depth.
Moreover, on the front appears a refined composition with vases of flowers, vegetal elements and polychrome insects, interpreted with a decorative sensibility typical of Gio Ponti’s taste. The thin lines and chromatic contrasts in fact create an elegant and light image, suspended between classicism and modernity.
On the other hand, Richard Ginori’s production of the 1930s represents one of the highest moments of Italian ceramic design, thanks to the ability to integrate art, decoration and high-quality manufacturing production. Overall, this vase fully testifies to Ponti’s poetics, in which ornamental fantasy, compositional balance and technical refinement coexist in a perfectly coherent way.
Description: Narrow neck and low foot, ceramic decorated with a checkered pattern of alternating vertical and horizontal bands with a woven-straw texture, on the front decoration with vases of flowers and polychrome insects, under the base mark of the Richard Ginori – S. Cristoforo – Milan manufactory, Made in Italy and artist’s signature, H cm 28 – diameter cm 22.
Publication: Gio Ponti – Ceramics and Architecture’, Centro Di, edited by Gian Carlo Bojani, Claudio Piersanti, Rita Riva, p. 35, fig. 23 and 24 – decoration on p. 135, mod. 111.
Hammer Price: € 4.960,00
Auction 42 – 9 December 2020 – 20th Century Design and Decorative Arts
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