ICS Vietri Cinghiale Tile

Made at I.C.S. Industria Ceramica Salernitana (1927 – 1940) in Vietri Sul Mar Italy this 4 1/4" square tile displays a wild boar or cinghiale. The design is attributed to Richard Doelker. Marked on the lower left and again with an impressed mark ICS Italy M with a fish. The condition is good with a few flakes around the edges and a glaze burst between the spears.

ICS was established by Moses Malamerson in 1927 and employed some of the most accomplished artists of the Tedesco Period, when many were fleeing Germany and Eastern Europe. Some of the artists included Studemann, Kowalski, Hannasch, Dolker, Cassetta, Gambone, Procida, Giovannino and others. Malamaerson, a Jew, was forced to close his company in 1940 and was sent to an internment camp. He survived the war but when he returned his extensive collection of ceramics, including pieces from ancient Greece and Rome, had been looted or destroyed.