Ceramic wall sculpture by Carlo Zauli, Italy, 1950s

Small wall sculpture in polychrome majolica by Carlo Zauli. The sculpture is part of a series of small panels created during the 1950s by Zauli in multi-coloured glazed majolica. They are always small rectangles (rarely reaching 50 cm in length) with bright and vivid colours. Often the subjects are taken from the world of mythology or chivalric epics. However, the representation, created according to graphic styles typical of the 1950s, often tends to be no longer readable, in a rarefaction from the figurative to the purest abstract. The graphic sign simply becomes a decorative element, pure geometry, meeting of lines within empty spaces.
In this sense it is interesting to note that, beyond the position of the signature and the brand on the back, the panel has four hangers on the back: in this way it can be hung in any direction, to underline that the figurative subject no longer has any relevance.
The same model is repeated on vases of the same period, where the graphic gesture accompanies and underlines the irregular shape of the vases themselves.
On the back there is a signature on a small black majolica base, not yet Zauli's stylized signature from subsequent years, as well as a small piece containing the address, Via della Croce, 6 Faenza.
The indication of this address allows a certain ad quem dating, 1950, the year in which Zauli, together with some partners, acquired a laboratory/furnace, located in via della Croce in Faenza.