Roberto Rigon Cube Vase 908 for Bertoncello, Cream & Brown, 10 cm, Italy 1960s/70s

This small cube vase was designed by Roberto Rigon for Bertoncello Ceramiche d’Arte, the ceramics manufactory founded around 1956 in Schiavon near Vicenza, for which Rigon worked as a designer. His sculptural vessels, often developed from the cube, shaped Italian art ceramics of the 1960s and 1970s; related models of the 900 series such as 911, 912 or 917 are collected internationally today and offered on specialist platforms. The underside bears the hand-painted model number 908 in blue, as is typical of Bertoncello pieces of this period; there is no Rigon monogram, and the attribution is based on form, glaze and numbering.

The body is a cube with softly rounded edges, from whose sides deep, bowl-shaped hollows have been modelled. The hollows lead into round openings, so that you can look right through the object at several points and the vase presents a different view from every angle. A circular opening with a brown-rimmed edge sits on the top. The glossy glaze combines a light cream tone with a dark brown, sponge-like broken texture that covers the top and edges and fades into a calm, almost plain vanilla tone inside the hollows. The underside is glazed in cream and rests on two unglazed, diagonally set feet.

As a solitaire on a shelf, sideboard or desk, the vase reads like a small sculpture, yet it also holds single branches or dried flowers and groups well with other Bertoncello forms. It fits into a mid-century interior as well as a pared-back contemporary setting. It is in very good condition, with no chips, cracks or flakes; fine crazing in the glaze is inherent to the making and not damage. The vase measures 10.1 cm in width, 10.2 cm in depth and 10.3 cm in height.