Felice Tosalli, Little Grebes, 1939, Ceramic

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Felice Tosalli, Little Grebes, Pair of Birds of the Same Species, Lenci Manufactory, Turin, 1939. This polychrome cast terracotta sculpture, … Read more Felice Tosalli, Little Grebes, Pair of Birds of the Same Species, Lenci Manufactory, Turin, 1939. This polychrome cast terracotta sculpture, titled Little Grebes, features two birds of the same species. One bird is crouched and the other is upright. However, in nature, little grebes have a different appearance than depicted here. The wild birds described by Tosalli are Tachybaptus ruficollis, great crested grebes, diving birds with long bills and slender bodies, double crests, and brown and black tufts on their heads, which open during danger or courtship.
The Italian artist Felice Tosalli (1883 – 1958) created this polychrome ceramic group, which bears the manufacturer’s mark Lenci, Turin, 1939, on the bottom. Unlike Tosalli’s other creations, these two birds display simplified plumage and anatomical details, yet retain all the unique characteristics of the species. Ceramics were introduced into the factory’s collection in the mid-1930s, but the sculptor had already worked on similar pieces in the 1920s. Thanks to its success, this new ceramic invention was chosen by the magazine “Domus” to illustrate the new proposals presented by Lenci at the Sixth Milan Triennial in 1936. It reappeared a few months later in the same magazine in an article promoting Italian ceramic production in view of the 1937 Paris Exposition. Tosalli’s group, added by Lenci to the product catalogue already published between 1933 and 1935, also appears in a color advertising booklet printed in the 1950s. In good condition, except for minor losses at the tips of the plumage; see photographic details. Lenci, Turin, 1939.
Period: 1939 This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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