A rare porcelain plate from Fornasetti’s Tema e Variazioni (Themes and Variations) series featuring a Queen of Hearts playing card variation of the face of Italian opera singer Lina Cavalieri. The plate is issue #208. Includes maker’s mark/stamp: Tema e Variazioni, 208, Fornasetti Milano, Made in Italy. This plate was authenticated by the Fornasetti company as having been produced in the 1950s or 1960s.

Piero Fornasetti, the Milanese designer whose obsession with the face of soprano Lina Cavalieri, who was known as “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” – led to more than 350 variations of her face on plates, glasses, paperweights and candlesticks. Starting in 1952, he transformed Cavalieri’s face “as he wished”. She became more than a motif in his work; she was more of a muse.

Variations on a theme is a process that characterizes much of Fornasetti’s work. His constantly variable recurring themes include suns and hands, but it is his Theme & Variations series featuring Cavalieri’s face that is the true expression of this process. It is no coincidence that this has become a true icon of Fornasetti’s work. 

DIMENSIONS

10.25” diameter, 1” tall

CONDITION

Great vintage condition. Minor wear commensurate with age.