SALVATORE MELANI INFORMATION PAGE
Born 1902, died 1934 (aged 32) — every dated piece found clusters in the 1920s-1930s, Art Deco period. He’s a contemporary of the form’s origin, not a revival figure and is therefore a little at odds for out 1950s/60s British designers (Bacci, Paoli, Duron) as if part of the same wave. He’s earlier and from a different (Belgian/French Continental plaster-casting) tradition that likely influenced the later British one stylistically, rather than being part of it directly, so I wanted to included him.
He also worked across media — bronze, plaster, spelter, terracotta, marble-mounted pieces — sold today through fine-art/antiques channels
as much as through “chalkware” collector channels. The ARNOVA-marked plaster pieces are the cheaper, mass-produced versions of work he also produced in bronze and other fine-art materials. Melani pieces show up at high-end decorative arts auctions while others turn up on eBay etc for under 50 euros.
COMPANY HISTORY
No dedicated, well-sourced history of ARNOVA itself was found. What exists is indirect, via a referenced article on a sister/competitor firm, A. Carli Frères of Schaerbeek (a commune of Brussels, Belgium):
– A. Carli Frères was a real, documented Belgian plaster/terracotta/marble/bronze casting house, founded early 1900s by Antonio Carli (b. 1868, Bagni di Lucca, Italy — emigrated to Belgium 1894), active until roughly 1970. It’s not lost on me that there is a Carli page on this site with another Italian “Carli”. Were they related? See that page for more info!
– The company both produced its own work AND distributed work by independent sculptors under licence/contract, including Salvatore Melani.
– It is possible that Melani sculptures were ALSO distributed by ARNOVA — described as one of several “gipsgieterijen” (plaster foundries) active in the same Brussels-area sector at the time.
– ARNOVA was later renamed MODERNA. Any piece marked “Moderna” with comparable subject matter, numbering style, or a Melani signature may be the same company .
– A separate, independent confirmation: ARNOVA appears as a listed manufacturer mark in a Dutch heritage foundation’s reference catalogue
of plaster-statue marks (“Merktekens op gipsen beelden,” Stichting tot behoud van erfgoed rond kerst Nederland), alongside two similarly
named marks worth being aware of for misattribution risk: ARTENOVA and ARTNUVO. These may be confusable with ARNOVA on worn or partial
stamps — worth a caution note in trying to identify pieces from a partial/damaged mark.
NATIONALITY
Listings are inconsistent. Some Dutch/Belgian dealers call it Belgian, several Catawiki/Etsy listings dated pieces “France, 1930s,” and one Dutch shop calls it explicitly “het Franse merk Arnova” (the French brand). Given the sourced material places the firm in the Brussels casting trade (same milieu as Carli Frères, which is documented as having depots in Paris among other cities), the most defensible framing is: Belgian-based, with heavy distribution into the French market — which is exactly the cross-border sales pattern documented for Carli Frères.
MATERIALS
Most ARNOVA pieces are described as plaster/gypsum (“gips”/”plâtre”), consistent with chalkware. A small number of dealer listings vaguely claim ceramic, bronze, or wood for “Arnova” pieces in general FAQ-style copy — these read like generic AI-written shop FAQ filler rather than object-specific fact, and should not be trusted without a specific listing backing them up.
The Melani Collection is collated here that I have managed to find. There are a few sites on the web with information saying that S. Melani may have worked for ARNOVA, a Belgian manufacturer, but I am unable to confirm this at the moment.
I have tried to compile a full listing of anything ARNOVA with numbering. Just to call out that this is a mixture of chalkware, bronze, and a bunch of other materials. The full (ARNOVA) Melani Product Number listing can be found here.