1964, manufactured by Manifattura Ceramica Bitossi, Montelupo Fiorentino for the “Mirabili” Collection of Sergio Camilli, Italy 1985/85, glazed ceramic, wooden base, white laminate, brass plaquette: Sottsass/ MENTA/15/20/ MIRABILI/ ITALY, stamped on the inside on the wood: Sottsass/MIRA…i s. r. l., height c. 211 cm, c. 48 x 48 cm. (DRAX)

Number 15 from the limited edition of 20 and 10 AP.
Assembled from six superimposed parts fixed by a metal rod: a white cylinder with red horizontal stripes, a central cylinder in yellow, green and blue, a large bulbous shape, a white “neck” cylinder, a head shape and a red end cylinder. “Menta” was designed by Sottsass in 1964, but only executed in 1986 in 20 copies, which were sold within a year. The “Menta” design is comparable to the totems that Sottsass exhibited at the Galleria Enzo Sperone in Milan in 1967 under the title “Menhir, Ziggurat, Stupas, Hydrants & Gas Pumps”.

Provenance:
Private Collection Italy

Lit.:
F. Ferrari, Sottsass, 1000 Ceramics, Torino 2017, p. 122 - F. Ferrari, Ettore Sottsass: tutta la ceramica, Torino 1996, p. 139 - H. Höger, Ettore Sottsass jr. - Designer, Artist, Architect, Berlin 1993, p. 169 - Mirabili. Arte d'Abitare, Electra Firenze 1986, pp. 108 - 111 - D. de Castro-Ettore Sottsass Scrapbook, Milano 1976, p. 47.