Description
Cantagalli Antique Itanian Faience Reticulated Plate with Crest. 9.5" wide with no cracks, chips, or restorations. 19th century.
About Ulisse Cantagalli
Ulisse Cantagalli was a superb artist and an even better businessman.
Not much of him is known before 1878 when he took over the family factory in Florence and started to produce highly decorative Italian ceramics in the Renaissance style. At the time the taste for this kind of pottery was a very hot trend in the English speaking countries.
He devoted his artistic energy to the understanding of the techniques and the designs of the old masters from Gubbio, Deruta, Urbino and other important ceramic centers.
His ability to master the ruby and golden luster techniques of Mastro Giorgio Andreoli brought the factory to fame, particularly in Britain.
The passion for Italian pottery and its role in the success of Cantagalli’s factory is well described in a delicious article published in the New York Times in 1879, titled “The Making of Majolica: A Florence Pottery Factory”.
The event that more than any other contributed to the International success of Cantagalli was his friendship with William de Morgan, Britain’s most talented and most admired pottery and tile designer of his days.
He introduced him to influential collectors in England and US and encouraged him to participate to International exhibitions. In a short time, Cantagalli works were highly regarded in English speaking countries, where they still are popular Collector’s items.
Cantagalli died in 1901.
His wife and daughter continued to operate the factory in Florence.
In 1934 they sold it together with the Cantagalli’s trademark to Amerigo Menegatti, former artistic director of the factory.
The economic turmoil following World War II forced Menegatti to a step change in production. He began to offer more utilitarian items, which still bore the famous cockerel that English speaking collectors find so appealing.
The Cantagalli factory closed in 1985.
The production of Cantagalli ware is now over, although the Menegatti family still owns the trademark.
TW156
