Modern, Post War and Contemporary Art

Live Auction, 11 November 2019

Session One

Sold for

ZAR 113 800
Lot 122
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates
  • Piero Fornasetti; Adamo and Eva; 24 plates


Lot Estimate
ZAR 100 000 - 150 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 113 800

About this Item

Italian 1913-1988
Adamo and Eva; 24 plates

each numbered and inscribed with the title of the series and marked with the Fornasetti mark underneath

porcelain plates with transfer image
diameter: 26cm

Notes

The first series of 24 plates – 12 plates forming the image of Adam and 12 forming the image of Eve – was designed by Piero Fornasetti in the 1950s. The images of the two figures are in the style of Renaissance engravings.

The Italian designer Piero Fornasetti is well known for his finely crafted mid-century modern furniture and accessories. His work is best described by the design principle of ‘practical madness’, where creativity is in perfect harmony with and distinctly linked to the utility of the object and its manufacturing technology. So, for example, he clads a chest of drawers in a black and white image of a Palladian Renaissance palazzo, giving a 3D object the anomalous appearance of a flat, 2D surface. The art of the Renaissance was his favourite source of inspiration, as is evident from his use of the figures in Albrecht Dürer’s famous engraving of Adam and Eve as the source for his images of Adamo and Eva, creatively electroplated on a series of porcelain plates.

Literature

Patrick Mauries (1991) Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams, London: Thames & Hudson. Another example from the edition illustrated in black and white on pages 234 to 341.

View all Piero Fornasetti lots for sale in this auction


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