Pear-shaped vase with wavy leaf relief

This vase is emblematic of Gariboldi's ability to enhance the quality of porcelain by working with barely perceptible thicknesses, which seem, in this case, to dress the object like a fabric. It is decorated with a light relief, similar to a shell or a scallop and a delicately undulating leaf wrapped around the ovoid body, up to the base of the neck.

A sample of the same model (mod. 1887s) was presented by Richard-Ginori at the 7th Triennale in Milan in 1940, where Giovanni Gariboldi obtained the diploma of honour. On this occasion Gio Ponti, in Domus, dedicated a long article to Richard-Ginori artistic porcelains, which included this vase. 

However, the porcelains presented by Richard-Ginori at the 7th Triennale did not escape the criticism of a sharp observer like Roberto Papini, who did not consider them sufficiently innovative: “We do not say that these efforts to bring porcelain back to the levels of preciousness that it deserves are not commendable: however, they lack boldness, they suffer from a sophisticated salon worldliness that smells of fear and weakens the attempts at their inception [...]”. 

The Museo Ginori owns other variants both monochrome and bichrome like this one (invv. 3339, 3340, 3341, 3342).