Ceramic Plate with Central Rural Landscape from Cà Pirota, Faenza, Italy, 1920s

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Item description:
entirely hand-modeled, glazed, and vitrified majolica plate, decorated entirely by hand with a central landscape in the center, … Read more Item description:
entirely hand-modeled, glazed, and vitrified majolica plate, decorated entirely by hand with a central landscape in the center, while the rim features two types of decorations in full faenza style that repeat to form two concentric bands. The plate is signed on the back by the manufacturer "ca pirota" and underneath with the place of production "faenza," numbered with the number "3" and datable to the first half of the 20th century. The plate is a good size and the ceramic biscuit is very thick and heavy. The artistic quality is high, note the beauty of the foliage of the trees, rich in shades ranging from dark green to light green, and the beauty of the sky veiled by a light layer of clouds. A true painting on ceramics.

useful information for evaluating the item:
our research shows that the ca pirota factory boasts numerous auction results, with estimates of over €1,000 for the largest and most important ceramics. We found a lot of 6 very small tiles, all depicting landscapes similar to this one, listed at €400-600. This is a starting price, which could rise during the auction and to which auction fees of 25-30% must always be added.

information about the artist and/or manufacturer:
cà pirota is an ancient name that dates back to the 16th century, when it was an important workshop producing faenza majolica, where pirotto di gaspare di michele paterni and his sons worked. Later, the "cà pirota" brand became the identifier for a series of berettini plates with monochrome decoration on a blue background. They were reproductions of paintings by the great masters of the time, especially raphael. In many cases, the decorations represented winged heads, cherubs, palmettes, flower pots, bucrania, griffins, coats of arms, cornucopias, facing dolphins, birds in flight, fluttering ribbons, spirals on a deep blue background, and again festoons with pointed leaves and round fruits enclosing arabesques highlighted in white painted on a berettino background. The history of the cà pirota factory began with the artistic talents of giuseppe fiumi, expressed in a small workshop owned by the minardi brothers. In 1922, after returning to work following world war i and finding work scarce, he decided to start his own business, founding "la nuova cà pirota" with two other partners: achille wildi from pesaro and napoleone grandi. The company, located at via croce 6, was housed in what had previously been stables. In the same year, his brother enzo fiumi joined the company, leaving his job as an employee of the state railways due to fascist tensions. The company was short-lived, with wildi leaving faenza due to a lack of work and napoleone grandi losing his life. Giuseppe fiumi continued to produce traditional local objects, exporting them abroad. The logo, representing an old house, symbolizes tradition. Designed by the painter malmerendi for another company, fiumi liked the design and purchased it. It was the early 1920s, when fiumi's products, featuring neoclassical decorations, enjoyed considerable success. They were landscapes and mythological scenes with blue backgrounds.
in february 1929, at an exhibition held at the music school in faenza, giuseppe fiumi presented a tile that also contributed to his success. It was a painted surface depicting two elderly gentlemen reading letters. Shortly afterwards, he moved to a small workshop in via marini. In 1930, with the crisis in full swing, giuseppe fiumi's brother left the company. He established a good working relationship with the painters giuseppe morini and adimero ossani. In 1933, financial worries intensified to the point that he had to close the business, selling the remaining materials to domenico emiliani. He was soon hired by the faenza-based company trerè as a decorator, where he expressed his own style, imitating pastoral paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1979, the cà pirota company was founded in faenza (ra) by fausto mongardi. The name given to the factory suggested the approach that fiumi wanted to give to his product: hand-decorated tiles that evoked the old faenza tradition.


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