Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Race Horse Plates, Set of Six

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The Winner’s Circle:
Piero Fornasetti’s Grandi Campioni Italiani Del Galoppo Plates

These plates celebrate the golden age of Italian racing … Read more The Winner’s Circle:
Piero Fornasetti’s Grandi Campioni Italiani Del Galoppo Plates

These plates celebrate the golden age of Italian racing with this rare and collectible set of six porcelain plates by Piero Fornasetti, featuring the "Grandi Campioni Italiani Del Galoppo" (Great Italian Equestrian Champions) series. Created circa the 1950s, this collection is a masterful blend of sporting history and Fornasetti’s distinctive graphic artistry.

Dimensions: 8 1/2 inches diameter, 1/2 inch high (21.59 cm diameter)

Details:

Each of the six plates, consecutively numbered 1-6, features a central rectangular panel showcasing an iconic Italian champion racehorse and its jockey, rendered in the sophisticated en grisaille (grayscale) lithographic transfer technique. The central portrait is framed by a dynamically arranged border of equestrian motifs, including horse tack, boots, and whips, adding a lively movement to the composition.

The champions immortalized in this series are:

Ortello (1926)

Archidamia (1933)

Donatello II (1934)

Nearco (1935)

Niccolò Dell'Arca (1938)

Molvedo (1956)

The reverse of each plate is marked with a description of the horse’s victories inscribed within a horseshoe motif, alongside the green Arzberg mark, confirming the German factory where the porcelain blanks were produced, consistent with Fornasetti's practices of using high-quality foreign porcelain.

Historical Context: Equestrian Fascination in Post-War Italy

This series highlights Piero Fornasetti’s (1913-1988) deep and enduring fascination with the equestrian world, a theme he revisited throughout his career. Produced around the 1950s, the plates reflect a period of great national pride in Italy, celebrating the achievements of these renowned champions whose racing careers spanned the 1920s to the 1950s.

The combination of classical portraiture with graphic, almost collage-like borders perfectly encapsulates the Fornasetti style: it takes a traditional subject and gives it a modernist, graphic spin. The series serves not just as decorative art, but as a nostalgic tribute to a glorious era of Italian sport, captured forever by one of the 20th century's great design minds.

Reference:

Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Edited by Barnaba Fornasetti, Rizzoli, New York, Page 16, #167 (illustrates one plate from this renowned series).

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