19th Century Paolo Rubolli Massimiano Italian Lustro Oro E Rubino Ceramic Plate

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RARE 19th Century Paolo Rubolli MASSIMIANO Italian Lustro Oro E Rubino Ceramic Plate
Aprox. dimensions: 7 1/4 inches
Very good … Read more RARE 19th Century Paolo Rubolli MASSIMIANO Italian Lustro Oro E Rubino Ceramic Plate
Aprox. dimensions: 7 1/4 inches
Very good original condition! No chips or cracks! Some paint wear commensurate with age.

Paolo Rubboli (1838–1890), descended from generations of ceramicists, found a treasure in his family’s workshop—a book, written in 1583, that described the technique for producing lustro ceramics. He was convinced that he could re-create this dazzling finish—if he could build a specialized muffola oven. But this would require the support of an entire village. He found it in postcard-pretty Gualdo Tadino in Umbria, which welcomed Paolo and his wife, Daria, also an accomplished ceramicist.
In the 1880s, they constructed a specialized muffola oven and, through endless hours of trial and error, mastered the painstaking lustro technique. Dozens of potters moved to the village to add a “blaze of glory” to their works. When Paolo died unexpectedly, Daria continued her husband’s tradition for thirty years. “Think of her passion!” says their son Maurizio Tittarelli Rubboli, a prize-winning ceramicist. “She was a woman with three young children, on her own and running a business in a remote mountain village.” See less