Designer: Piero Fornasetti (1913 – 1988)

Item: Cammei Box (Cigarette Box with Cameos)

Manufactured by: Piero Fornasetti

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: Circa 1950s or early 60s

Materials: Steel, wood, lithographed images, paint and felt

Dimensions: 1 ¼” x 11 ¾” x 4”

Condition: Good to Very good.  There are some losses and dings to the enamel paint as shown, and priced accordingly.

Description: Here is an original vintage Piero Fornasetti made cigarette box with his famous Cameos portraits design and early dovetailed corners on the wooden box.  We have seen this design in different color combinations, with this being perhaps one of the harder to find.  The versions we usually see have a mottled green ground, but with the same red and black cameos.  This box has its original green felt bottom indicating an earlier production and it has the very faintest signature and logo barely visible, even with a loop, in the lower right corner which we tried to show. 

References: Fornasetti, Barnaba, Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, Rizzoli (2010), page 501.