Vintage 1960s Alvino Bagni Italian Art Pottery Striped Planter

An incredibly special piece of 1960s Italian art pottery, attributed to celebrated Florentine ceramicist Alvino Bagni, whose wonderfully expressive ceramics were amongst those selected for the American interiors market by design importer Raymor.

This beautiful planter has a softly flared form covered in loose, painterly stripes of cobalt, turquoise and sea green, punctuated with little strokes of yellow, rust and earthy brown against a wonderfully textured off-white ground. The irregularity of each mark is what makes it - colourful and graphic, but still unmistakably handmade.

The decoration corresponds remarkably closely with documented Alvino Bagni pieces produced for Raymor during the 1960s, including examples in this same distinctive striped design. Many originally carried paper Raymor labels, while other examples are known with Italian markings alone, meaning these labels can easily have been lost during their lifetime.

This example is hand-marked 4653 / ITALY to the base, but retains no paper label, so I have chosen to describe the piece as attributed to Alvino Bagni rather than make a definitive attribution.

Beyond its provenance, it is simply an incredible piece of mid-century design. Those beautiful watery blues and greens, painterly surface and generous form have such an easy relationship with the colours of the coast, particularly lovely filled with something wild and green.

A rare and wonderfully decorative piece of Italian mid-century pottery, and one I’m particularly excited to have found.

Dimensions;
Height: 13.5cm
Top diameter: 16cm
Base diameter: 10.5cm