Antique Cantagalli Blue and White Savona Style Maiolica Cabinet Vase, Florence, 1884

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An exceptional antique Italian maiolica miniature cabinet vase, made by the Figli di Giuseppe Cantagalli workshop in Florence, Italy, during … Read more An exceptional antique Italian maiolica miniature cabinet vase, made by the Figli di Giuseppe Cantagalli workshop in Florence, Italy, during its earliest and most valuable period, circa 1884. Produced under Ulisse Cantagalli, it is a fine example of late 19th-century Italian historicism, reviving the Ligurian pottery traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries. Museum records and historic factory catalogues identify this type of decoration as calligrafico di Savona.

The vase has a bulbous pear-shaped body tapering into a flared trumpet neck. Its hand-painted cobalt-blue decoration is executed in rapid, expressive brushwork over a milky-white tin-glazed ground, recalling historic Savona maiolica. A continuous panoramic landscape depicts Italian rural buildings by the water, stylised cypress trees, rolling hills and bold foreground foliage beneath a soft sky.

The underside bears the hand-painted Cantagalli factory mark of a singing cockerel, the manufactory's trademark. The name Cantagalli means singing roosters, from canta, to sing, and galli, roosters. The broad, expressive bird is characteristic of early production during Ulisse Cantagalli's lifetime, before later standardised stamped marks and export country labels. The base also features the handwritten number 31 beneath the rooster; such numbers are understood to identify the individual decorator who painted the piece, a practice associated with the factory's professional artist-decorators during this period.

The unglazed foot reveals the warm pinkish terracotta typical of early Florentine maiolica, with natural kiln characteristics from a period wood firing. The vase retains a glossy surface and bright cobalt-blue colour.

Dimensions: height 14.6 cm; rim diameter 6.5 cm; maximum body diameter 9 cm; weight 321 g. This piece has an attribution mark,
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