Rare Italian Ceramic Wall Mirror by Fausto Melotti, 1950s

A rare Italian ceramic wall mirror by Fausto Melotti from the 1950s, created during one of the most important periods of the artist’s exploration of clay and glaze. The rectangular mirror is surrounded by a deeply modeled ceramic frame in a saturated rose-pink glaze. 

Rather than treating the border as a flat surround, Melotti builds it from a continuous rhythm of folded, curling forms. They resemble petals, ribbons, or gathered fabric, but resist becoming any one thing. Each projection catches light differently, giving the frame a sense of movement that shifts as it is viewed from the front or side.

Up close, the hand of the maker becomes especially apparent. The folds are irregular, their edges deliberately uneven, and the glossy glaze settles differently across ridges and recesses. Fine craquelure is visible across the surface, along with small chips and areas of wear at the exposed edges.

That distinction is particularly meaningful with Melotti. Fausto Melotti trained as an engineer before studying sculpture at Milan’s Accademia di Brera alongside Lucio Fontana, and his lifelong interest in mathematics and music informed an approach built around rhythm, repetition, balance, and variation. During the years following World War II and into the early 1960s, ceramics became a particularly important part of his practice; the Fausto Melotti Foundation describes the medium as a means through which he reinvented and transformed his sculpture. His technical achievements in ceramics earned him the Grand Prix at the 1951 Milan Triennale, followed by gold medals in Prague and Munich.

Here, the mirror itself is almost secondary to the extraordinary ceramic perimeter. Its vivid pink glaze, hand-modeled relief, substantial depth, and wonderfully imperfect edges give the piece an expressive presence on the wall. Seen from an angle, the projecting folds become even more pronounced, casting small shadows and making the frame appear to move outward into the room.

More sculpture than conventional mirror, it brings together several qualities central to Melotti’s work, rhythm, repetition, material experimentation, and a sense of play. It is an especially distinctive way to live with the work of an artist whose ceramics were central to his practice during the 1950s, while remaining completely functional within an interior.

About Fausto Melotti
Fausto Melotti (1901–1986) was an Italian sculptor, ceramicist, and artist whose work explored rhythm, balance, and the expressive possibilities of material. Born in Rovereto, Italy, Melotti initially studied engineering before turning to art, studying sculpture at the Accademia di Brera in Milan under Adolfo Wildt. During the 1930s, he became associated with the Italian abstract movement, developing a distinct visual language rooted in geometry, music, and architecture.

Working across sculpture, ceramics, and decorative objects, Melotti brought a remarkable lightness to materials ranging from brass and steel to plaster and glazed ceramic. His works often appear delicate and poetic, composed through slender lines, repeated forms, and carefully considered negative space. Over a career spanning more than five decades, Melotti moved fluidly between fine and applied arts, establishing a body of work that remains among the most distinctive expressions of twentieth-century Italian modernism.