The work by the Tuscan artist is a modern-day vanitas, created using the blue-and-white majolica of the Fabbri jar; in effect, Paolo Maione here “updates” a work he previously created in 2007. Bizarre and non-conformist, an expert invisual puns and paradoxes, this is a sculptor who works in a range of materials (majolica, bronze, terracotta) and is a fervent advocate of the essential importance of the relationship between the artist and the material he is working with and in. Of great technical skill, Maione’s art draws upon ideas and forms that mix together popular vernacular and the most noble traditions of the decorative arts. His wry humour is itself a part of a long Italian tradition that includes such figures as Collodi (he has done a memorable cycle of works dedicated to the mocking, anarchic spirit of Pinocchio), Pirandello, De Filipppo and Totò — all masters of humour but also philosophers of disenchantment.