Piero Fornasetti Ceramic Palloni, Hot Air Balloon Complete Set of Coasters

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Piero Fornasetti Ceramic Palloni, Hot Air Balloon.
Complete Set of Coasters,
1955-60

The Piero Fornasetti ceramic coasters are a complete … Read more Piero Fornasetti Ceramic Palloni, Hot Air Balloon.
Complete Set of Coasters,
1955-60

The Piero Fornasetti ceramic coasters are a complete set of eight. They each depict a different Hot Air Balloon with the names of the aeronauts and sometimes dates on the reverse in English while the same information is found printed around the lower edge of the coasters in Italian. Each balloon has an Italian story.

Dimensions: 4 1/4 inch diameter x 1/4 inch height.

Condition: Good.

The subjects are-
Areostatk, Float by Mr. Zambeccari, 1752-1810
Mr. Guillot, Without basket during his ascenion,
Ascension by Mr. & Mrs. Arban in Verona on 1846Rachute Flights by E. Garnerini in Milan on 1824,
Mr Fr. Orlandi's Flight in Bologna on 1839,
The Balloon by Monk S. Serrati in Florence, 1754-1804,
Mr. V Lunardi who started The first flight on 1784,
The Flying Boat by Father Lana, 1631-1687.
Each balloon is real and existined in history for example here is the story of the last listing-

In the year 1670, Francesco Lana de Terzi published a book titled Prodromo, including a chapter titled saggio di alcune invenzioni nuove premesso all'arte maestra ("Essay on new inventions premised on the master art"), which contained the description of a “flying ship”. Encouraged by the experiments of Otto von Guericke with the Magdeburg hemispheres, in 1663 Lana de Terzi developed an idea for a lighter than air vessel.

His design had a central mast to which a sail was attached, and four masts which had thin copper foil spheres attached to them: the air would be pumped out of the spheres, leaving a vacuum inside, and so being lighter than the surrounding air, would provide lift. The airship would be steered like a sailing boat. Each sphere would have had a diameter of 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in). Terzi calculated that the weight of a sphere would be 180 kg (396 lb). He also calculated that the air in the sphere would weigh 290 kg (638 lb), and would provide enough lift to carry 6 passengers. At the time no one could manufacture such thin copper foil and the pressure of the surrounding air would have collapsed the spheres. In addition, Francesco Lana de Terzi was aware that one could use such a vehicle as a weapon of war, and attack cities from the air. He wrote: “God will never allow that such a machine be built…because everybody realises that no city would be safe from raids…iron weights, fireballs and bombs could be hurled from a great height".
((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Lana_de_Terzi).)

Reference: Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Ed. Barnaba Fornasetti, Page 600-601, # 123, top left. They are listed under Unusual Themes.

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