Rare double-sided enamel on copper "Il Sole" by Gio Ponti, executed by Paolo De Poli, Padova, 1956. Blue and purple on one face, orange and yellow on the other. Signed. Excellent condition.
Specifications:
- Designer: Gio Ponti
- Manufacturer: Paolo De Poli, Padova
- Country/Period: Italy, 1956
- Materials: Enamel on copper
- Conditions: Excellent; no visible defects or restoration
- Dimensions: 22 × 21 × 0 cm (H × W × D)
- Literature: Ugo La Pietra, Gio Ponti, Rizzoli, 1995
- Price: €2900
- Shipping: Contact us for a quote
Designed by Gio Ponti and executed by Paolo De Poli — the Padovan master of enamelled copper — "Il Sole" is one of the most celebrated works to emerge from their long creative partnership. This example, from 1956 ca., is a rare decor variant: the front presents a deep blue centre radiating into purple and burgundy, the reverse shifts to a warm field of red and yellow ochre. The two faces read as complementary visions of the same celestial subject — night and day, depth and heat — within an identical form.
The sun silhouette, with its eleven pointed rays and schematic face rendered in relief, condenses Ponti's gift for the decorative into a single, concentrated object. Flat in profile yet vibrant in surface, it belongs to the applied arts tradition that Ponti championed as equal to architecture and industrial design. De Poli's technique — firing successive layers of vitreous enamel onto hammered copper — achieves a depth of colour and luminosity that no other medium replicates.
Signed "De Poli" on the front face. Preserved in excellent condition with no visible defects or restoration. A rare piece, in this double-sided configuration.
