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Vietri Hand-Painted Italian Pomegranate Maiolica Serving Bowl — 10.5″

$92.00 Only one available

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Retro (1970s–1990s) Enamel / Painted, Porcelain / Ceramic Very Good
HDRK-VR-0054
There's a particular kind of Italian bowl that turns a weeknight supper into an occasion, and this is one of them. Ripe pomegranates in orange and red, pink star-lilies with dark stamens, all of it twining across a cream ground in real brushstrokes you can see. The outside wears a molded basketweave band above glossy white glaze. Deep enough for pasta or salad, handsome enough to hold nothing at all and simply sit at the center of the table.
  • Hand-painted in Italy by the Este workshop for Vietri
  • Bold Campania botanical: pomegranates and star-lilies on leafy stems
  • Molded basketweave band around the exterior wall
  • Deep round form, 10.5" across and 4.5" deep
  • Tin-glazed maiolica earthenware, cream-white ground
  • Serves pasta, salad, or fruit, or holds the center of the table on its own
Condition: Very Good. Bright glossy glaze and crisp hand-painted decoration, with no chips, cracks, or hairlines observed.
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Vietri Hand-Painted Italian Pomegranate Maiolica Serving Bowl — 10.5"

Late 1980s–1990s

Italian Maiolica, Campania Botanical

Some bowls are made to hold food. This one was made to hold a whole idea of the table. Hand-painted in Italy by the Este workshop for Vietri, it carries the fruit and flowers of a Campania afternoon: ripe pomegranates in orange and red, pink star-lilies with dark stamens, all of it twining on leafy stems across a cream ground. You can read the brush in every line, the dark hand-drawn outlines and the small bleeds of color that tell you a person, not a press, made this.

The pomegranate has stood for welcome and plenty around the Mediterranean for longer than anyone can properly trace, and it's a fitting fruit for a bowl this generous. Deep enough for pasta or dressed greens, wide enough to heap with fruit, striking enough to sit empty at the center of the table and still earn its place. It came to us from an estate in Hobbsville, North Carolina, where it clearly belonged to someone who liked color, abundance, and a table set with both.

Materials Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) with a cream-white ground; hand-painted interior and rim, molded basketweave exterior band over glossy solid-white glaze.
Care Hand wash with mild soap and dry by hand to keep the hand-painted decoration and glaze bright. Avoid the microwave and abrupt temperature changes.
From the Research Archives
vintagerose.us Catalog No. HDRK-VR-0054 • July 2026

Specifications

Dimensions
12 × 12 × 6 in
Weight
2 lbs
SKU
HDRK-VR-0054
Vietri has been bringing Italian ceramics stateside since 1983, working directly with the family workshops of Campania and the Veneto, and this bowl is exactly why they built that reputation. It was hand-painted in Italy by the Este Ceramiche workshop, and the brush did the talking. Look closely and you'll find the dark hand-drawn outlines, the small natural bleed of color into glaze, the confident strokes that no machine has ever managed to fake. The decoration is pure Southern-Italian table: ripe pomegranates in orange and red, pink star-lilies with dark centers, everything twining on green-and-blue leafy stems across a cream ground. It's a sunny, generous palette, the kind meant to make food look better and a table feel fuller. The pomegranate is an old Mediterranean emblem of welcome and plenty, and a bowl wearing that fruit was made to be passed around, filled, and passed around again. The form earns its keep too. Ten and a half inches across and four and a half deep, with a molded basketweave band circling the upper wall above a glossy solid-white glaze below. Deep enough for a full serving of pasta or dressed greens, it works just as well heaped with fruit or left empty as a centerpiece. It came to us from an estate in Hobbsville, North Carolina, and it clearly spent its life on a table that liked good color and good company.
  • Maker: Vietri (importer, Hillsborough, NC); hand-painted in Italy by the Este Ceramiche workshop
  • Marks: Round "Vietri / Made in Italy / Hillsborough, NC" importer stamp, plus the crowned laurel "Este" workshop roundel reading "Made in Italy / Hand Painted / M.V."
  • Era: Late 1980s–1990s
  • Material: Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), cream-white ground
  • Motif: Pomegranates and pink star-lilies on leafy stems, hand-painted interior and rim
  • Dimensions: 10.5" diameter × 4.5" deep
  • Exterior: Molded basketweave band above glossy solid-white glaze
  • Use: Pasta, salad, or fruit serving bowl; display centerpiece
Condition: Very Good. Bright glossy glaze and crisp hand-painted decoration, no chips, cracks, or hairlines observed. A few tan firing specks on the base and foot ring and one faint tan spot near the interior rim are normal for hand-made Italian earthenware. The display face is vivid and clean.

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