Editor’s Pick from Wunder Kammer
La Cervetta Dorata.
Description & Function
This sculptural ceramic figure depicts a stylized deer (or "hertje") captured mid-pose, glazed in creamy peach tones and crowned with surreal golden accents on its mouth and ears. Deliberately kitsch and fragile in posture, the piece is a tongue-in-cheek homage to mid-century femininity, filtered through a queer, post-Barbie lens. A glimmering embodiment of infantile perfection, this object blurs the line between decorative innocence and performative identity.
While originally conceived as pure decor, this version has been subtly transformed into a functional vase, with a discreet opening in the back for a single sculptural stem. It is as much an ironic domestic relic as it is a shrine to the aesthetics of artificial cuteness.
Ideal as a conversation piece in interiors where queerness, design, and symbolism intersect. Best displayed solo, or as part of a curated vignette exploring femininity, artificiality, and gaze.
Origin & Production
Marking: “902 LA PAOLA” handwritten on base
Estimated Origin: Northern or Central Italy
Date: c. 1950s–1960s
Produced during Italy's postwar decorative ceramics boom, likely in a small studio catering to export markets.
Stylistic parallels with Capodimonte, Chodzież, and Eastern European kitsch objects produced for both tourist and export audiences.
Material & Finish
Glazed ceramic with gold-painted detail on ears and mouth
Light surface patina and minor imperfections due to age
Signature high-gloss pearlescent glaze finish
Dimensions & Weight
Height: approx. 28 cm
Width: approx. 17 cm
Weight: approx. 571 grams
Condition
Very good vintage condition. Minor wear on base consistent with age.
No visible cracks or repairs.
The gilded accents are intact and lightly patinated, enhancing their surreal character.
Shipping Info
Ships from Italy
Securely packed in padded, double-layer cardboard with bubble wrap
Poste Italiane or DHL shipping options available with tracking
Why This Object Belongs in a Wunderkammer
1. A Queer Icon of Manufactured Innocence
La Cervetta Dorata is more than cute. She is a queer relic of the objectified feminine ideal: still, soft, seen. The gold on her ears and mouth recalls highlighter and lip gloss — a nod to contemporary beauty influencers and the performative nature of "feminine polish."
2. Kitsch, Camp, and Control
This figure taps into the tension between decorative sweetness and the societal desire to "freeze" women at their most pleasing. It's infantile, yes — but knowingly so. She’s part Bambi, part Bratz doll, and fully aware.
3. From Object to Voice
Though silent, she speaks volumes. Once just a figurine, now a vase, she transforms from passive decoration into an expressive vessel. A symbol of what happens when beauty is captured, framed, and finally put to use.
4. A Flash of Gold, A Frozen Gaze
Her gold accents are not luxury, but parody. They frame the very orifices through which women are expected to receive and respond — ears to listen, lips to smile. Here, they shimmer with resistance.
Tagline
Mid-century kitsch meets queer critique: a gilded Bambi for the post-Barbie age.
#queerdesign #wunderkammerfinds #vintageceramics #kitschobject #campcollectible #artobject #laCervettaDorata #infantilisme #glazedfeminine #postbarbieaesthetic
✦ Reframed
La Cervetta Dorata is an object designed to be beautiful — not to speak. Too early for language.
In that sense, the figurine becomes a metaphor for how young girls are often seen too soon, valued for their appearance before there is even a story to tell. That appearance is then unnecessarily emphasized, cosmetically enhanced, and flattened — until they become trapped in a role they would never have chosen themselves.
The gold accents on her ears, lips, and hooves evoke an early form of ‘femininity’: make-up as a prediction. Her function as a vase makes this conditioning tangible. She becomes form. She becomes useful. She remains still.
In a contemporary context, this is no longer a decorative object. It exposes how ideals of beauty operate as a form of control. How beauty says nothing about freedom. And how seduction can mean immobility.
✦ Over deze hybride editie — Reframing in praktijk
La Cervetta Dorata is geen decorstuk. Het is een statement over hoe we betekenis geven aan objecten — en daarmee ook aan identiteit, schoonheid en waarde. In dit werk wordt reframing letterlijk en conceptueel toegepast: een vintage beeldje wordt opnieuw gepositioneerd, digitaal uitgebreid en kritisch bekeken.
De NFT is geen toevoeging, maar een essentieel onderdeel van dit herkaderde narratief. Het maakt van een nostalgisch object een hedendaagse casus over eigenaarschap, context en controle. Door fysieke en digitale lagen te combineren, krijgt de kijker (en verzamelaar) toegang tot een gelaagd kunstwerk dat zich uitstrekt van kastplank tot metaverse.
✦ The Sting Behind the Sweetness
(On the Bees as Metaphor)
The swarm of bees surrounding La Cervetta Dorata may appear harmless at first glance — they hover, they shimmer, they almost dance. But their presence is anything but innocent.
In this context, the bees function as a metaphor for male desire: drawn to sweetness, softness, and shine. To her innocence. Her gloss. Her stillness. But just as in nature, the more alluring the honey, the more dangerous the swarm. The bees do not come merely to taste — they sting.
The figurine — smooth, silent, glazed in gold — attracts attention without asking for it. That’s precisely what makes her vulnerable. Much like how young girls are often looked at, desired, and objectified long before they’ve had a chance to position themselves, or to shape their own narrative.
Where Cindy Sherman once positioned herself through roles and poses, this object is now reframed without a voice — and that is the core of the critique.
La Cervetta Dorata reveals how beauty becomes entangled in attraction. And how seduction can lead not to freedom, but to fixation. The bees expose this tension: it is not adoration — it is consumption.
Available as fine art print or NFT on request.
