Mancioli - Table service (6) - Porcelain - Lunette

Rare set consisting of 6 contour lunettes produced in Italy by Mancioli in the 1950s and hand-painted.

The glasses are hand-decorated with a design that reproduces strawberries, in a style that was very popular in the second half of the twentieth century, when hand-painted decorations on tableware were highly appreciated.

In 1926, Natale Mancioli founded the eponymous company based in Montelupo (FI), with the purpose of producing 'clay, artistic ceramics, leather goods.' Between 1928 and 1936, the business expanded to various types of packaging, including saharianas and raincoats, as well as the processing of Florentine straw, bags, and silverware. After 1929, he marketed ceramics as a street vendor in the squares of Genoa, Carrara, and Forte dei Marmi, where, from 1932 to 1938, he conducted seasonal sales of ceramics from Fanciullacci of Montelupo, Faenza, Deruta, and Urbino.
In 1938, the company 'Mancioli e Arrostiti e C. Vetri impagliati' was founded, involving Natale's brother-in-law, Ugo Bagnoli, and Rolla Arrostiti, who left the company in 1942, passing his shares to his friend Mancioli, who on March 5, 1943, established 'Mancioli Natale & C snc.' This firm, in 1946, began producing, in addition to woven glass, artistic ceramics—an art form previously sold only by companies like Fanciullacci and Richard-Ginori of Sesto Fiorentino. The company's headquarters initially was the former match factory on Via Caverni, with artistic direction entrusted to ceramist Bruno Mangani, assisted in modeling by Loris Carmignani, both from the Gianni manufactory, also based in Montelupo. Between 1946 and 1949, the workshop employed about twenty specialized workers, and the production was of a traditional type: red clay decorated with graffito and painted designs, with motifs created by Mangani, including references to local tradition (vegetal and faunal motifs, Renaissance grotesque ornaments, festoons of fruit and leaves) and styles characteristic of manufactories in Albissola, Florence, and Urbino.

The glasses are in good overall condition; some show minor chips that do not compromise the use or the prestige of the set in any way. The photographs display these small imperfections and are an integral part of this description.