Posted 13 years ago
retro597
(43 items)
Definitely a piece which has seen much better days but despite the repairs (none of which are even close to acceptable...lol), and craze dots, I still like it. The complexity and handiwork is amazing. The mark is a Capital i with an sc superimposed on the i. Thanks to italian pottery marks website. Made between 1890 and 1900. Further info in the comments sections, as this was once a mystery which is now solved. Thanks to knowledgable and helpful people.
Nice piece. Raffaellesco?
Thanks never heard of it. Looked it up and definitely in the ballpark. Thx again vetraio.
That mark is quite particular and is a bit unclear. Is it an I witha a circle and two strokes? And what are the numbers above it? 1?44....?
Yes an I witha circle and two strokes the number is 1?44 see the piece is fleck chipped right at marks. I am buying a new digital camera because of my experience listing today. My camera only permits you to get so close. Now if I used my pro Nikon 35mm I can shoot a gnats eyelash from 1000 yards...lol bu then I would need to develop and scan. So thanks all for the patience until I purchase a camera in digital format capable of close ups.
Thanks again vetraio. I had no idea and you nailed it. The two forms on the back which I thought were dolphins were winged stylized dragons blowing the fine good wind. Raffaelesco majolica. The 1?44 upon further examination can be dicerned just barely as a five. So it is 1544. I will crap my pants literally if this was made that far back. I couldn't be that lucky...lol. Probably a pattern number. Boy you got me reading every thing I can on the pattern style and Italian majolica. Love it.
You're welcome. So, you're after a Deruta signature.
Yes, Deruta. Thanks to your knowledge and help my reasearch can continue. It seems initials were used at one time and not signatures but that is where I need more info. So off to every library, writing emails to experts, and overall knowledge quest continues. Things from continental Europe are an area I have yet to delve into much. Just amazes me the amount of things I do not know and I thought my head was full already...lol. Thanks so much. I am only leaving it open and unsolved so as to anyone with knowledge of the marks may appear and lend a hand.
This is a response I recieved at Italian Pottery Marks . com. Walter is a true expert and was so helpful.
You have a wonderful early example from "Societa Ceramica de Colonnata". The company was established by a group of ex-Ginori employees in 1891. Just two years after it was established the company entered an example of its work in the 1893 World' s Columbian Exposition of Chicago. Colonnata, to the surprise of many, took the Gold Medal in the competition and their name became known worldwide. Its fame was largely based on the beautiful "Grottesche" or Raffaellesco designs seen on your vase. If you compare the piece to others of the period between 1890 and 1900 you might note that your ornamentation is lighter and softer in nature and have a more animated sense about them. The works from Colonnata was far more loyal to the original vision of Raphael than any other 19th or 20th century studio. The company lost much of its luster and original dedication to the Renaissance forms by the 1920's and in 1931 it was sold. The company name has been sold many times since then and the name and mark are still in use today. However, it is examples from the formative years between 1891 and the beginning of World War I that are the most desirable and your vase is probably one of the earliest and finest I have seen.
Walter Del Pellegrino
Congratulations on the successful identification of your vase!
Now I understand the mark: the two strokes are in fact an "S". It's a C and not a circle. It is an ICS combination, the earlier mark for "Società Ceramica Colonnata".
It seems they also exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1900 in Paris.
The group of six that formed the company in 1891 were: Vittorio Buccarelli, Ugo Ciapini, Alfredo Contini, Aristodemo Puliti, Ugo Tacconi & Olimpo Zoppi.? They were not a huge concern and perhaps one of these was the one responsible for your vase?
The factory was closed in 1937 and the next year was taken over and became a firm that still operates in Sesto Fiorentino in the province of Firenze.
Thanks to you for sharing this rare vase.
Yes, one of them were probably responsible. I bought the piece at an auction for 7 bucks about 20 years ago. The auction was in the middle of nowhere Indiana. It was an estate auction. This piece was just before two ruby glass souvenirs from the Columbian Exposition in 1893. So, although it can not be proved at this point, I believe now this was possibly bought there, or ordered there. It was probably a family passed down generation piece. Dunno, too much time has lapsed. But it all makes sense to me now as to why such a piece would end up in a household in Indiana. A household of a man who died in his seventies. The entire auction was small, the total contents of the home may have brought $2K and the farmhouse and land only brought $40K and included 20 acres. This was not an estate of wealth at all. This was the only piece there that had any interest for me aside from an old circular saw. I didn't get that piece but I think I did ok...lol.
wow! this piece is sooo beautiful! it doesn't even matter to me that there are bad repairs. those can be corrected today. this whole dialogue is a great read. kudos to both vetraio50 and Retro597!