Gio Ponti and Libero Andreotti for Richard Ginori, Blue Urn, porcelain, 1928 (inv. porcellane 903)

Location: Rocchetta, 2nd floor, Room XXXI

The porcelain holdings of the Museum include some decidedly representative works produced by the Richard Ginori factory in the 1920s and 1930s. These pieces were made under the artistic direction of Gio Ponti, the brilliant protagonist of the renewal of Italian decorative arts. This architect and designer succeeded in bringing together the irreconcilable: the creation of unique pieces and mass production. He created pieces of identical shape but with differing decorations, which were carried out in different colours or shapes.
The blue Urn with gold decorations, celebrating the triumph of Love over Death and in which Love and Death appear on chariots pulled by winged horses, stands out among these objects. The cylindrical vessel stands on golden feet topped by winged figures at rest. The ornate lid decorated with a wreath, has a knob in the form of a winged figure, shown standing and leaning against a pillar.

Designed by Gio Ponti and the sculptor Libero Andreotti, who designed the winged figures, in 1928, the urn is elegantly decorated at the top with cupids and friezes, and cornucopia at the bottom. This and other objects in the same series were very successful.
The "Blue Urn" was donated to the museum by the Richard Ginori Company.