Gio Ponti "Il Sole" enamel on copper, Paolo De Poli, 1956

Designed by Gio Ponti and executed by Paolo De Poli — the Padovan master of enamelled copper — "Il Sole" is one of the most celebrated works to emerge from their long creative partnership. This example, from 1956 ca., is a rare decor variant: the front presents a deep blue centre radiating into purple and burgundy, the reverse shifts to a warm field of red and yellow ochre. The two faces read as complementary visions of the same celestial subject — night and day, depth and heat — within an identical form. The sun silhouette, with its eleven pointed rays and schematic face rendered in relief, condenses Ponti's gift for the decorative into a single, concentrated object. Flat in profile yet vibrant in surface, it belongs to the applied arts tradition that Ponti championed as equal to architecture and industrial design. De Poli's technique — firing successive layers of vitreous enamel onto hammered copper — achieves a depth of colour and luminosity that no other medium replicates. Signed "De Poli" on the front face. Preserved in excellent condition with no visible defects or restoration. A rare piece, in this double-sided configuration.