20th Century Ceramic Vase by Giuseppe Capogrossi for Ars Deruta, Italy, 1950s

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Description of the object
a majolica vase produced by the ars deruta factory in the 1960s, entirely wheel-thrown and hand-decorated … Read more Description of the object
a majolica vase produced by the ars deruta factory in the 1960s, entirely wheel-thrown and hand-decorated with a vibrant composition that combines a pop-art-style female portrait with an abstract geometric pattern. The slender, elegant shape resembles that of a large goblet: the body widens toward the rim and tapers into a neck that rests on a broad, flared foot. In the center, within a softly contoured yellow field, is painted the face of a girl with long hair rendered in dense black lines, featuring side-swept bangs, elongated eyelashes, and a small heart-shaped mouth, surrounded by red and blue flowers with green leaves, all glazed in a thick layer. All around runs a black band crisscrossed by a white incised grid, within which are arranged squares of pure color—yellow, blue, pink, green, and red—creating an effect similar to a stained-glass window or a mosaic, complemented by bands of thin black lines on a white background, yellow bands, and scalloped black borders. On the foot, below the portrait, the word “roma” is incised; its meaning is not entirely clear: it could indicate the vase’s destination or place of manufacture, or it could refer to the subject depicted—either as the title of the work or as a reference to the city of the young woman portrayed. Beneath the base, the mark “ars deruta” is hand-painted. Certain elements of the decoration—in particular, the solid-color panels and the color palette based on yellows, reds, blues, and greens paired with black—closely echo the style of giuseppe capogrossi, the great roman painter who, according to biographical accounts, collaborated with the ars derutae factory between the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, this is merely a hypothesis, a suggestion—evocative but undocumented—because the vase bears no signature by capogrossi (who, in any case, did not sign all the works he produced for the manufactory, or sometimes merely decorated ceramics made by others), nor does it feature the artist’s characteristic “e-shaped marks”; for this reason, we present it as a work of the ars deruta manufactory, without any formal attribution. The vase is in good overall condition, with small areas of glaze loss on the rim, slight flaking along the incised letters, and signs of wear on the foot rim, all consistent with its age.

information about the artist and/or manufactory
deruta, in umbria, is one of the oldest and most famous centers of italian majolica: as early as the renaissance, its workshops were renowned throughout europe for their metallic glazes with golden reflections and their large, historically themed plates. After world war ii, alongside traditional production inspired by renaissance models, many deruta manufacturers—including ars deruta—embraced modern tastes, offering clean lines, glossy black glazes, abstract decorations, and stylized figures in line with international design trends. These ceramics, produced between the 1950s and 1970s and sold in italy and abroad, are now highly prized by collectors of postwar italian design for their vibrancy, artisanal quality, and perfect balance between tradition and modernity.


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