Bitossi, Rimini Blue, Italy

Bitossi, Italy

There are still few pieces for grab from the Bitossi Rimini blue collection in Melbourne op shops. Last week, my friend Natasha and I took a stroll to our local Salvation Army. Among various pottery pieces there it was... 

This fabulous Bitossi ashtray is characteristic of the Rimini blue collection with its intricate hand-embossed patterns and layered blue and turquoise glazes, as blue as the Mediterranean sea can be...

The collection was designed by Aldo Londi in the 1950's. Sixty years later, Rimini blue still stands out of the crowd especially in the Australian op shops where we see  mostly variations of brown in Australian or New Zealand stoneware.

Doing attribution is always a tricky business but when it comes to this particular collection, the example below is a fairly representative marked bottom of this collection.  

Note the writing below the number. Italy is often in lower case expect for the 'I' and the 'T'. Actually, in my experience, the 'T' is always in capital letter. In doubt, you are welcome to post your piece on this blog or/and contact the people from the Italian pottery mark forum  http://italianpotterymarks.freeforums.org/bitossi-marks-t19.html