CHUNKY WHITE ELEPHANT BY ALDO LONDI FOR BITOSSI

A stout figurine of a white elephant with a glossy translucent glaze revealing a red clay body underneath. Designed by Aldo Londi for BITOSSI CERAMICHE, probably in the '60s. Quite heavy, it could be useful as a paperweight or even a doorstop, but would probably do most nicely as a decorative accent on a shelf or mantle in the living room. ALDO LONDI (1911-2003) was one of Italy's most celebrated master ceramists. He spent most of his long and successful career creating exceptional works of great art and craft for the Italian ceramics firm Bitossi Ceramiche. Just outside of Florence, Londi’s hometown of Montelupo Fiorentino had been an important center of pottery production in Tuscany since the Renaissance. At the age of eleven, in 1922, Londi went to work for the region’s then-premier ceramics workshop, Fratelli Fanciullacci (Fanciullacci Bros.). There he would master the time-honored methods of the local industry. Following WW II—upon his return to Italy from South Africa, where he