Fornasetti Themes & Variations No 256

A porcelain wall plate made in Italy by Fornasetti, and featuring the timeless face of 19th century opera singer Lina Cavalieri along with the face of designer Piero Fornasetti. This is number 256 from the 'Themes & Variations' series, a design usually known as ‘In Vino Veritas’.

Piero Fornasetti first used Cavalieri's face in one of his designs in 1952 and, since then more than 350 designs have been produced using variations of the face and features of the woman considered at the height of her career to be "the world's most beautiful woman".  

This design is unusual in that Cavalieri’s face is dwarfed by the face of Piero Fornasetti, who is shown drinking a glass of wine. Cavalieri’s face is floating in the wine and round the top of the glass is the legend ‘In Vino Veritas’ (‘In Wine there is Truth’). As well as being one of the more unusual designs in this range, this plate is also one of the more difficult to come by. The back of the plate bears the Fornasetti mark.

The plate comes in its original box - there is minor wear to the box, but the plate is in perfect condition.