Ceramic table tray from Faenza (Italy); it has been skilfully hand-painted with the "Garofano" decoration; this type of decoration is a "chinoiserie" and was produced for the first time in 1767 by the Feriani Factory in Faenza, a great protagonist in the history of ceramics from 1693 to 1893; represents an imaginary oriental garden in bloom, with a blue lawn, and in the center, the "Carnation of the Indies", re-elaborated according to the ceramic tradition of Faenza; the strong polychromatic suggestion has made this decoration famous all over the world and still today, after more than two centuries of history, it is one of the most fascinating and requested collections. Our tray was not produced in one of the many factories in Faenza that produce hundreds of them, but by a single person, Marinella Melandri, an expert and skilled artist painter who had her own small studio and workshop in the center of Faenza; perhaps a relative of the more famous Pietro Melandri, the great Faentine ceramist of the early 1900s, Marinella Melandri was considered a refined decorator, a Master of Art in hand-painting precious ceramics, rich in spirit and creativity; clearly her production was very limited but of very high quality and in great demand by an elite of customers; our tray created between 1975 and 1979 is entirely hand made and hand-painted following the tradition of Faenza majolica, and belongs to her last production, in fact, Marinella ceased her activity in 1981. The birth of ceramics in Faenza is linked to the abundance of clayey soil available in the vicinity of the Lamone River and to its strategic position: the city was in fact a place of passage both for travelers along the Via Emilia and for those coming from Tuscany. The first potters' workshops were established in Faenza starting in the first centuries after the year 1000, and soon the city became a ceramic center of first importance; in this medieval phase, ceramics had simple shapes and were intended for domestic use. The technique, however, was destined to be refined and to adopt a notable chromatic and decorative complexity derived also from Byzantine, Arab and Oriental influences. At the end of the fifteenth century, the Masters of Faenza began, in fact, to decorate the precious ceramics with floral motifs and designs that were enriched with details until they transformed plates and vases into masterpieces of figurative art. The research continued in the eighteenth century when the Faentines felt the influence of the Chinoiserie which was very fashionable at the time. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the history of Faenza majolica, which has always been intertwined with the history of great Italian craft production, has continued to this day in a tale of timeless beauty and elegance, one of the highest expressions of Italian ceramics. A curiosity: Faenza is throughout the world synonymous with ceramics. Just think that the term "Faience" is still used in some regions of Europe as a synonym for majolica. The tray is in good condition, small differences in color or slight imperfections are to be considered evidence of craftsmanship. Measures width cm.36, depth cm.29, height cm.4.
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