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“Cosmic Harlequin” Decorative Mosaic Panel, Milan, 1966–1976

Height x width: 104 x 76 cm

composed of polychrome diamond-shaped tiles on a glossy cobalt blue lattice background. The background is enlivened by floating planetary spheres in a graphic, spatialist style. The work is signed in two places: it bears the manufacturer’s engraving “Ceramica Joo Milano” with a circular mark in the lower right corner, and the master decorator’s handwritten signature in gold, “A. Lariccia,” in the lower left corner.

Ceramica Joo was a leading Milanese manufacturer of artistic wall coverings in the 20th century, known for supplying mosaic materials for Gio Ponti’s architectural projects (such as the Pirelli Skyscraper in 1956). In the 1960s and 1970s, it produced an exclusive line of mosaic panels for interior design. A. Lariccia, a mosaic artist and ceramist active between 1966 and 1976, oversaw the translation of these designs into mosaic and the final decoration of this series of figurative panels, which are documented in the European vintage collectibles market.