A lavish example of San Marino pottery, with typical 'Smalto Roccia' or 'Lava' glaze. A boat vase with a central red panel depicting typical lady head with flowers in sgrafitto decoration, the interior lavishly glazed gold.

San Marino pottery is slip moulded bisque clay, created for the tourist industry and sold throughout Italy in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. They are fragile and rarely found in such good condition - a popped glaze bubble here and there, stripes of background wash show through the top glaze.

Unsigned. Mark Hill, in his comprehensive text on Italian Ceramics, 'Alla Moda: Italian Ceramics of the 1950s-70s’, notes that few San Marino pieces are signed.

Hill also notes that the majority of San Marino pottery pieces are on the small side due to the limited space in tourists' luggage. This piece is on a medium to large scale. The lavish decoration starts with a grey and white foam glaze called 'Smalto Roccia', which imitates the volcanic stone of the area around Rimini in San Marino.

The central panel depicts the typical 'lady head' scheme, with a dappled red and black background. These are typical of the Libertas and Titano workshops, however, as the piece is unsigned and there were over fifty workshops producing San Marino pottery, we can't verify the exact producer.

The carefree, playful nature of these ceramics is very appealing to those who love a bold, colorful, wild kitsch aesthetic. Just a delight!

MEASURES

28cm W x 18cm H x 9cm D

Scale shown with other San Marino tall vase and standard wine bottle, see images

CONDITION

Very good to excellent, a popped glaze bubble here and there, stripes of background wash show through the top glaze as normal for San Marino wares.