Kenny Scharf - scarce limited edition Italian Plate - Vongole Al Forno, 1998

Kenny Scharf - scarce limited edition Italian Plate - Vongole Al Forno, 1998

Limited edition dishwasher safe ceramic plate

Kenny Scharf’s signature is fired into the front of the plate (lower right recto), and also on the back. 
From the late 1990s through the millenium, Buon Ricordo America, Inc. commissioned famous artists, including Kenny Scharf to design plates for their flagship restaurants as special one-time only charitable fundraiser. The restaurant chosen for this plate was Al Forno in Providence Rhode Island. The editions were never completed, so the numbers of examples - is deceptive because only a fraction were actually created in the first run. They were never mass marketed, and the restaurants did not do well publicizing or selling them. Unfortunately, in 2001 the project ended after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which also affected many of the company's restaurants. No more examples were created, leaving the editions unfinished. 

Amazingly, the restaurant, Al Forno in Providence is still in business after all these decades. 

The plate was made in conjunction with Buon Ricordo America, Inc., an offshoot of the Italian restaurant union, Buon Ricordo (Unione Ristoranti del Buon Ricordo). After biscuit firing they are coated and decorated by hand by skilled craftsmen using a carbon “dusting” technique similar to that once used for Renaissance fresco painting. Once the plates were decorated they are glazed and fired for a second time to fix their vivid colors. 

The verso (back) of the plate states that the plate is a limited edition designed to support charitable organizations, that the artist makes no profit whatsoever, and that the dish is microwave safe. It also features a dish - Vongole Al Forno - which is 
an Italian-style baked clam dish featuring fresh whole clams on the half shell topped with seasoned breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, and olive oil, then oven-roasted until crispy

A delightful collectible! (Plate only; base not included)