Veneto Plate 19th c.

Ceramic hand painted plate from Veneto region in northern Italy (d 29cm, late 19th c.). The plate’s border done with sponge is framing the figure of a young woman. Despite the decline in production in the early 19th century because of the great political and economic crisis, many laboratories in the Veneto region have survived, making pottery for a wider consumer audience, on which are depicted scenes from everyday life, nature, animals , people, religion, mythology etc. These ceramics, known as “ceramica popolare”, produced in large numbers during the period from 1840 until the First World War, when the Veneto region was in the front line and was a murderous battle field, resulting in the death of any industrial and craft (private collection, Athens Greece).