GINGER JAR VASE BY ALVINO BAGNI FOR RAYMOR (ITALY)

This ginger jar shaped vase was created by Alvino Bagni for Raymor. It features a drapery decor in shades of crimson, orange, and maroon with accents in silver and black. It was probably produced in the 1970s. ALVINO BAGNI was born in 1919 in Lastra a Signa in the environs of Florence. His boyhood and adolescence were spent without his father; as a communist, he had been exiled under Italian fascism. The young Bagni learned the basics of drawing and clay modeling under the tutelage of artist/sculptor Torello Santini. Bagni's interest in ceramics—a locally important industry—grew, and he found work at Arnaldo Pugi’s furnace in Ponte a Signa. Following WWII, Pugi helped him finance the opening of his own studio, BAGNI CERAMICHE, where several family members including wife Gina were employed. Gina would work along side Bagni throughout his career. 3,500 elephant-head plates bearing the slogan “I like Ike” were manufactured for export during Eisenhower's 1952 US presidential campaign—an e