Majolica Inkwell and Monkey

Description

• Subject & Form: The inkwell features a naturalistically modeled, seated monkey perched upon a stylized green leaf base. The monkey is clutching a spherical, lidded ink pot. The cover lifts completely off to access the inkwell.
• Palette & Glaze: It is decorated in a classic Renaissance-revival palette dominated by rich ochre yellow, deep cobalt blue, copper green, and manganese brown line work. The glazes are thick, vitreous, and glassy, giving the piece its signature high-shine, reflective surface.
• Decorative Motifs: The Monkey: Painted with free, sketchy brushstrokes to emulate the texture of fur, giving it an expressive, slightly mischievous face.
  • The Ink Pot: Decorated with a historicist “Raphaelesque” (Raffaellesco) style, featuring segmented panels containing whimsical creatures—specifically stylized dolphins or sea dragons and small winged cherub/grotesque faces against a white background.
  • The Lid: Domed with a spiraled ochre finial, featuring alternating radiating petals of blue and pale green.

The Underside Mark Identification

The hand-painted blue sketch on the glazed underside is the highly stylized factory mark of Cantagalli.

The Maker’s Mark: The sketch represents a crowing rooster (or cockerel). Because “Cantagalli” translates from Italian to “singing roosters,” the factory cleverly used a visual pun of a rooster as their signature trademark.

While it looks like an abstract flurry of feathers or a bird on a branch at first glance, you can discern the sweeping tail feathers on the right, the two stick-like legs at the bottom, and the head/beak area on the far left.

Origin and Date

• Who Made It: The Cantagalli Workshop (Manifattura Cantagalli).
• Where It Was Made: Florence, Italy (Firenze).
• When It Was Made: Circa 1880–1910 (Late 19th to early 20th Century).

Historical Context

The workshop was famously revitalized by Ulisse Cantagalli in 1878. He specialized in high-quality, artistic revivals of 15th and 16th-century Italian Renaissance maiolica. This particular style of mark—quickly dashed in blue or black underglaze—is classic for Cantagalli pieces from their peak artistic period around the turn of the century.