Ceramic treasures

During our recent trip to Europe, we took a side trip to Italy. To be specific: Sicily to see volcanos. While in Sicily I had the opportunity to pick up some lovely ceramics. These are the lovely things I couldn't help but bring home. I'll post picks of some of the items that stayed behind later.

 

First up is what we've taken to calling the wine fish. This thing was a challenge to bring home with all it's knobbly bits. I was so worried something would get knocked off during the day and a half of plane flights. The winefish has three candle holders as his crest and a mouth wide enough to hold a bottle of wine, or salt or sliced bread. Under the blue glaze he also has scales carved into his body.  I've never seen anything like him in my research but I tend to look at plates and cups so I'll have to do some more digging to document him.

 

This is the wine fish in his new home next to the plate and dish I also acquired. The shop-keeper called these "pre-majolica". I'm going to spend some time soon looking for the museum pieces that inspired these designs.  I am so glad these made it back to Australia with me. Soon I'll have an update on what I've found out about the artist, the inspiration pieces and the items I had to leave behind.