Piero Fornasetti Rosoni Pattern Porcelain Plates, Set of Six Circa 1960s

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Piero Fornasetti Rosoni Pattern Porcelain Plates, Set of Six
Circa 1960s

This vintage set of six Piero Fornasetti “Rosoni” (rosette) … Read more Piero Fornasetti Rosoni Pattern Porcelain Plates, Set of Six
Circa 1960s

This vintage set of six Piero Fornasetti “Rosoni” (rosette) pattern porcelain plates presents each plate as a dramatic exercise in trompe-l’œil, with a different large, intricately detailed rosette transfer-printed in striking black and white against a fully gilt ground.

The six designs range across the classical repertoire: deeply undercut acanthus rosettes with star- and flower-head centers, a whirl of scrolling volutes radiating from a daisy, a ring of feathered leaves around a spiral-fluted boss, a cruciform rosette of four ribbed leaves, and a cluster of rounded buds set within splayed acanthus. Each is rendered with the fine hatching of an engraving, so that it reads as carved architectural ornament rather than a flat print.

Fornasetti masterfully contrasts the bold graphic detail of the rosettes with the luxurious, highly reflective gilding — a combination of high-contrast graphic art and opulent gold characteristic of his ability to blend classical decorative themes with a modern, surrealist sensibility. The rosettes, numbered 1 through 6, give the series a timeless, sculptural quality.

Hung together in two rows of three, or in a single line above a console or sideboard, the six plates read as a run of architectural roundels; they are equally effective displayed on stands in a bookcase or cabinet, where the gilding catches the light.

Dimensions
Diameter: 10¼ inches (26.0 cm)
Height: 1 inch (2.5 cm)

Marks
Each plate printed in black on the underside with a rosette device above “ROSONI,” the design number (1–6), and the Fornasetti hand-and-paintbrush device above “FORNASETTI · MILANO / MADE IN ITALY.” All plates additionally bear a green German porcelain backstamp.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
Good condition with very minor wear.

References
Fornasetti, Barnaba (ed.), Fornasetti: The Complete Universe (Rizzoli, 2010), p. 617, no. 171, illustrating a set of six different Rosoni examples.

Historical Context
Rosone is the Italian term for the large carved rosette of classical architecture, set at the center of a ceiling or within the coffers of a vault. The Rosoni series, like many of the works of Piero Fornasetti (1913–1988), draws directly on the vast archive of engraved imagery he collected throughout his life, recontextualizing classical art, architecture, and ornament — acanthus leaves, architectural fragments, and rosettes among them — as modern, usable objects.

Produced in the 1960s, some two decades after the studio’s postwar debut, the Rosoni plates demonstrate the continuity of the Fornasetti aesthetic, holding to the founder’s core vision: to take familiar iconography and present it with unexpected, maximalist flair.

(Ref: NY11067-nkrr) See less