Archive of original midcentury porcelain designs by [DESIGN] - 1965

Rome: Faro Disegni, 1965. Beautiful archive of midcentury porcelain designs, each an original hand-colored work of art, spanning a wide variety of botanical, geometric, and figural styles. Some feature realistic portraits of flowers and birds, while others are much more stylized: traditional folk motifs, linear Art Nouveau florals, bright mod blossoms. This is a working archive: many of the images are annotated and corrected in pencil, and themes (like the firebird) are developed over multiple sheets. Of the 168 designs that survive, eight are unnumbered, and the others are numbered as follows: 1-47, 49-67, 69-138, 140-144, 146-155, 157-165. Roman firm Faro Disegni is best known for their textile designs; this archive testifies to their participation in other aspects of the decorative arts. A remarkable survival. Collection of 168 original hand-colored designs for porcelain plates, each on a separate sheet, of various sizes: a group of 111 designs executed in pencil, ink, and watercolor on heavy paper, most measuring 14.5 x 13 inches, and a smaller group of 57 sketches, executed primarily in pencil and crayon on onionskin, measuring less than 12 inches square. Most designs labeled "Faro Disegni" and numbered in ink; a few designs mounted, many marked in pencil with annotations in French and English. Housed in two chemises within a custom clamshell box.