Mug with the face of a grey cat painted by hand
Mug

The muzzle faces directly the drinker.

Mug with the Gray Cat

  • white
  • white clay

€38,50

This piece is one of a kind.

What you see in the photo is what you'll receive. If you'd like another, it can be remade to order.

Thrown, painted and fired by hand by Marcella and Maria Teresa Lorenzi, in Empoli.

The piece

Ivory glazed white earthenware, with the hand-painted muzzle of a gray cat: its ears, whiskers drawn with a fine brush, and yellow eyes. On the side, towards the handle, a branch with a leaf runs along it.

The muzzle looks straight at the drinker.

How it's made

From raw clay to the second firing. In between there are two pairs of hands and a kiln you cannot be in a hurry to open.

  1. The wheelThe raw clay rises and takes shape. From here on every gesture stays: a piece that goes wrong is made again from scratch.
  2. The first firingThe piece goes in raw and comes out biscuit: porous, matt, still without colour. It is the state in which it drinks the glaze.
  3. The brushThe decoration is painted freehand, one piece at a time. It is the step that means two pieces never come out identical.
  4. The second firingTwelve, thirteen hours in the kiln. It cannot go any faster: ceramic heated suddenly shatters. Then it cools on its own, and only then is it opened.
Materials
White painted and enameled earthenware
Clay
White
Decoration
Animals

How to look after it

A few things, but they have to be respected: it is fired glaze, not plastic.

  • Hand wash
  • Crockery

On request

Want it different?

Another colour, another size, a piece designed just for you: Tuscany Market Hub handles the request. Write to us, we'll put it into production and come back to you with timings and a price.

Ask for a made-to-order piece

The request goes to Tuscany Market Hub, who pass it on to Il Papavero.
About ten days of work for the large pieces. The kiln alone runs for twelve hours.

From the same hand

Two ways to browse: the same decoration, or the same object in another guise.

The workshop

Marcella and Maria Teresa Lorenzi

Two sisters, a kiln and raw clay. The passion started when they were children and took the serious road at the art school in Firenze; then life closed down a business and brought them back here, to ceramics, with the VAT number reopened and their hands in the clay.

They make two things that do not resemble each other: natural decorations and table centerpieces. All painted by hand, piece by piece, and fired slowly.

Step inside Il Papavero

Their story on MANUARTI

White clay and red clay · painted and glazed by hand · slow twelve-hour firing

All the creations Il Papavero