$309.00

All iNVISeDGE prices are in AUSTRALIAN dollars (AUD $309) is significantly less in American dollars. This piece is in North BRISBANE (Australia) but can be posted internationally for the cost of postage plus $3 for packing and the storage of used packing materials. We regularly pick up clean packing materials from an electrical store before it ends up as landfill. Contact us if have any Bitossi animals you want to sell. Our commission fee is 7.5% to 18.5% when your item sells to use iNVISeDGE as a selling platform (18.5% for private sellers. 7.5% for selected dealers only who need a selling platform only and little of our time).

 

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Description

This item is priced at $309 AUD (AUSTRALIAN dollars). AU $309 is about $227 AMERICAN.

Background Info and Provenance

A VINTAGE Bitossi rabbit made in Italy in the mid-to-late 1970’s or early 80’s. This is a genuine VINTAGE Bitossi piece made by HAND. There have been recent re-issues of Bitossi pieces (they started happening in 1999- I don’t think they’re being made anymore though- thank Goodness!). The re-issues are nothing like the vintage originals. The new ones look like they’re plaster poured into a mould (they look mass-produced and are). They don’t have the hand-made quality of the vintage pieces. The re-issues found their way into Australia around 2007 and many ebay sellers at the time were labelling them as “authentic” and “retro”. In my eyes they can’t possibly be “authentic”. Bitossi pieces captured the attention of the world because of the HAND-MADE craftsmanship and individualistic quality. The re-issues were not made by hand and they are certainly not “retro” either (they are still only about 10 years old!). They are modern re-issues (copies) of the vintage originals (made using modern mass-production techniques).

In my eyes, you’d be better off investing in a modern décor piece from China. All the modern re-issues of each animal look exactly the same- the patterns and decoration are identical for each shape. THIS IS AN ORIGINAL VINTAGE BITOSSI PIECE- 100% GUARANTEED HAND-MADE & VINTAGE. Look closely at our photos and the hand-made quality quickly becomes obvious. You can see roughness in the clay where some areas have not been worked so much. Tooling marks are obvious (particularly on the underside) and the thin line decoration that accentuates the bottom curved edge has different depths- some areas are deeply impressed into the clay and others are much closer to the surface. (These thin lines could never be achieved in a mould as the lines are too close together- they were impressed in the surface by HAND by real people (like all VINTAGE Bitossi pieces were). The FLAVIA pieces were ALL hand-made and hand-decorated by artisans. Wheel thrown, hand-made, hand-decorated pottery is always individualistic and “imperfect” (as you can see in these photos). It is these factors that makes Bitossi so desirable and collectable. (It’s is less about the look of the item and more about the HAND-crafted quality.)

I purchased this rabbit from an estate sale years ago when I was still in Sydney (along with 3 other Rimini Blu animals). Two of the pieces I purchased from this estate are rabbits- the family were using the rabbits as book-ends … and they looked amazing too! (I still have the other 3 in my collection.) The people clearing out the estate told me this family immigrated to Australia from the UK in 1982 and bought some of their furniture and also most of their personal decorative arts items with them. This pinpoints the date of this piece to the mid-to-late 1970’s. The famous Bitossi factory in Italy started marking all their decorative arts pieces with a FLAVIA impression (like this) from 1976 onwards. In the mid-1980’s when mass-produced Chinese décor items flooded worldwide markets, production of decorative arts items at the Bitossi factory slowed. At this time, the output of items in this colourway (the famous “Rimini Blu” colours) reduced dramatically. By the 1990’s the Bitossi factory was producing a lot of other looks and styles. From the 1980’s, Giovanni Masone took over as artistic director and invited various Memphis group artists to collaborate with FLAVIA including Piero Fornasetti. Bitossi / FLAVIA items in the 1990’s were largely in different styles and the production of animals (particularly in the Rimini Blu colourway) virtually stopped (many earlier animals that remained popular for 30-odd years stopped altogether in the 1990’s).

In the early 2000’s, there was a re-discovery of vintage Bitossi (particularly in Australia) and by 2007 the re-issues flowed into Australia (mainly via ebay). These pieces were not met by the buying public in Australia (and around the world) with much enthusiasm. They lacked the magic and imagination of vintage Bitossi and sellers of the re-issues quickly gave up- the re-issues disappeared only after a matter of years. They’re still floating around and changing hands but they have very little collector appeal. (In saying this though, a few shapes that were picked up as re-issues are very rare (as vintage originals) and interestingly these shapes were also produced in smaller runs as modern re-issues. (Whether this is a coincidence or intentionally done, I don’t know.) A couple of the rarer re-issued animals have increased in value after production stopped.

Ceramics manufacturer, Montelupo was founded in 1921 by Guido Bitossi and produced traditional renaissance-style maiolica and terracotta wares up until the Second World War. Incredibly the Montelupo factory was miraculously spared during WWII. Production continued during these turbulent years, despite the destruction inflicted on the other local businesses and factories by Allied bombs. In order to continue operation at this time, Bitossi was forced to begin producing their own ceramic glazes, frits and colours and soon began supplying the entire region (including neighbouring countries) with Bitossi-made glazes and frits. From 1946-1976 under the artistic direction of Aldo Londi, the factory collaborated with a number of outside artists, including, (from the late-1950s), Ettore Sottsass. The arm of the business that produced decorative arts pieces took the name ‘Ceramiche Flavia’ at the beginning of 1976. In 1999, the impression changed, the FLAVIA name was lost in the impression and the word Bitossi appeared pretty-much for the first time. (The majority of VINTAGE Bitossi pieces never had the word Bitossi painted on them or impressed into the clay.

The rabbit is rare. (I can’t remember ever seeing another- certainly not in Australia anyway). It is one of my favourite Bitossi shapes. There is a dynamism and flow that works extremely well with the subject. Rabbits and hares are notorious for their speed and the motion in the shape depicts this very cleverly (and well). I think it’s one of Bitossi’s best.

To my knowledge, Bitossi pieces were never retailed in Australia back in the day (from the 1960’s through to the 80’s). Bitossi pottery is incredibly rare here and much-loved by Australian collectors. Vintage Bitossi pieces in Australia are about 40 times rarer than America.

The real beauty of owning vintage Bitossi is knowing your piece won’t be in vogue for a season or even a couple of years before ending up as landfill. The hand-made quality of these pieces draws people in- the heart and soul found in every vintage piece will continue to charm people regardless of their era, age and background. This piece has survived over 40 years already and particularly since COVID vintage Rimini Blu animals have become more popular than ever. There are very few better ways to invest in your home and reduce landfill.

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This rabbit is in excellent condition considering her age and travels. There are NO cracks, NO repairs, NO chips. The piece has a few very minor signs of use to be expected of any vintage Bitossi piece but nothing at all that’s noticed- she’s been very well looked after. There is light crazing especially to the underside- this is desirable as it substantiates that this is a vintage piece. She has a width of about 18.5cm and measures about 11cm in height. Weight- 616 grams. The rabbit is a substantial size. (The perfect size in my eyes- easy to display anywhere.) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Read our 1200+ feedback comments (ALL positive and ALL for vintage furniture/decorative art SALES- 100 or so are from repeat customers). This is your guarantee that I strive to describe all my items as accurately as I can and I will not stock items unless they are in excellent condition.
PICK-UP . . . from 30 or 40 minutes North of BRISBANE city is accepted but postage is preferred as my home is hard to find. Because of this I will nominate a friend or family member for you to collect the item from if you need collection. Pick-up in person must be worked out prior to purchase- thank you. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE is offered internationally. All our Decorative Arts pieces are delivered through AUSTRALIA POST. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE ESTIMATES. . . . ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To BRISBANE- most of our pieces cost $15 - $18 to send. . . To SYDNEY or MELBOURNE- Small Vase- around $20 - $23, Medium Vase- around $20 - $25, Large Vase- around $24 - $30. Let us know if you need an EXACT COST for postage prior to purchase. The above postage estimates include $2.95 for a signature on delivery. . . INSURANCE against being lost or broken in transit up to the value of $200 is included in the estimates above. If your vase is cheaper or more expensive than $200 this will effect your postage fee slightly. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A BOXING FEE of $3.00 is included in the fee above to cover the cost of searching for and storing used packing materials. With the millions of cardboard boxes that end up as landfill every year we don’t believe in supporting the manufacture of boxes for post. Instead of buying new boxes and packing materials and passing this cost onto our customers we spend considerable time sourcing used boxes and then fashioning boxes to fit each item. We do the same for bubble-wrap and foam pieces. This requires a large investment of time, energy, ingenuity, organization and storage space- it is much easier and cheaper to buy new packing materials but I can’t justify taking the easy way out when so much packing material ends up polluting our earth. Our $3.00 charge does little to pay for the time (and storage) needed do this and to pack your item (there is also the time needed to get your package to the post office). This is something we’re happy to do for our customers and the environment. We appreciate your support in this area.
We accept DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT. We send photographic ID of the iNVISeDGE store owner (Michael Grealy) to all customers at the point of sale, along with media articles about iNVISeDGE with photos of Michael Grealy in them (most of these articles are about 10 years old). Your payment will be paid into an Australian ANZ bank account under the name Michael Grealy (or iNVISeDGE). Please read our ebay feedback spanning more than 15 years for irrefutable proof of our online trading history and reputation. Ebay feedback can ONLY be left by LEGITIMATE PAYING customers! Additionally please be aware that in Australia ALL consumers are protected BY LAW if the goods or services they buy are not as described. (But this should be of no concern- in our first 15 years of trading we have over 1150 positive ebay feedback comments and ZERO negative feedback comments.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On occasions a DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT can be made at the time of collection. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On occasions CASH payment when you collect your item may also be available. Confirm prior to purchase if you need this. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Other payment methods are available but problematic and may incur additional fees. Tell us prior to purchase if you are unable to feel 100% confident with our trading history and payment methods so we can negotiate something else with you.
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