‘ETRUSCAN’ COVERED BOX BY ALDO LONDI FOR BITOSSI

A circular covered box with a perforated base in the dark green and brown Etruscan décor designed by Aldo Londi for BITOSSI CERAMICHE. The lidded container rises from an inset base whose evenly spaced holes call to mind the portholes of a flying saucer. 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 was held captive as a prisoner of war—Londi became creative director at a second Montelu