ID Don Quixote & Sancho Panza Antique Italian Pottery ?

Please help ID these Don Quixote & Sancho Panza Pottery Figures.
I was told that they were pretty rare, and valuable before my father passed away.

They are aprox 12" high, and very delicate pottery. The hand painted signatures are on the bottom of the horses. I think the first name might be Gianni ... ?

 

Hi Cary - sorry to hear about your father. I love these figurines! Signature might be "Gianni Trafari" - just a guess - maybe some other variation on the last name - Trapani ...Trafani...other. Someone should pop up that knows more. Maybe @Walter Del Pellegrino can have a look.

EDIT - Maybe from Trapani, Sicily, Italy.

 

There seems to be an Italian surname that is Giannitrapani, all one word.

 

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...ceramic-figural-bucking-horse-85-c-bdcb71f8f9

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...ulptures-carlo-giannitrapani-605-c-86f456a928

 

Available now on eBay.

 

Well found. Looks like the pair of Quixote/Sancho on invaluable didn't sell. They had repairs though.

 

Well deciphered. I was seeing TR__AMI.

 

The style is typical of some works produced in Sardinia and Sicily but I am not familiar with the name. Did you notice that piece has been tampered with? Under the letter “A” in the signature there appears to be a logo containing a stylized crown and under that crown is what may be the letter “A” and something I can’t make out. Because there are signs of alterations there now exists doubts and new questions. This fact makes guessing as to an artist’s identification a moot point.

 

See this link is not being useful today. @Walter Del Pellegrino in case seeing these would affect your assessment at all, eBay item #s:
232701731667
332589988535
292655276454
263910245168

You can also just do an eBay search for 'giannitrapani', probably more efficient. Last one, the pirate, has been added since I posted before & is not signed in the same manner.

I'm not seeing the hints of other marks that concern you, which does not mean they are not there. There are 2 'A's in the signature; where are you looking? Although there are many differences ('spear' may be missing here), signature, subject & style consistent with eBay specimens. To my inexpert eye, they look hand modeled, colored & signed by the same hand & not something mass produced & fraudulently signed. I don't have your knowledge base to inform my opinion. Can you explain any further? Is signing one's name to a factory produced item a common practice?

 

I can't see any other marks and wonder if this would even be worth faking.

 

Here is a rough translation of the artist’s biography:

Carlo Giannitrapani, originally from Livorno, was born in Florence in 1933.
His passion for drawing, painting, ceramics and art history proved immediately decisive, right from school age.
His father directed him to technical studies, because in the immediate post-war period, having the prospect of safe work was fundamental; but the young Giannitrapani, while finishing his studies, does not adapt to the life of the accountant.
The artist prevails and Giannitrapani sets up shop, a ramshackle atelier, as he defines it, which grew in importance and fame for his mastery in the art of ceramics and the originality of the works. In the period of the economic boom, many requests came from abroad, especially from the United States.
Among his works we recall the caricatures of the legendary Niccolò Carosio and the beloved Nereo Rocco at the Coverciano Football Museum; in Montecatini Terme in the lunette of the portal of the Church of S. Antonio the scenes of the life of the saint; in Florence, in the church of San Francesco di Paola, the Baptist at the baptismal font, the Beatitudes, the Miracle of the blind man born, the Last Supper and the St. Francis of Paola, with a severe and penitential appearance, donated during the V centenary of the Saint's death (1507-2007) and placed in the chapel dedicated to him; in San Piero a Sieve he made a bas-relief of Leonardo's cenacle in terracotta. He also exhibited a large ceramic group in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence depicting the procession of football in costume and made, for the municipality of Campiglia marittima, the ceramic coat of arms donated to the Madonna di Montenero sanctuary in Livorno and kept in the municipal gallery of Tuscany of the sanctuary itself.
Among his many works, large and small, in his collection you can also admire various subjects that portray sportsmen, singers, politicians and artists, and finally themes ranging from the sacred to the profane.