Fanciful Silvio P. Zoratti Peter Rabbit Carving

Circa 1963: Silvio Peter Zoratti (1896-1992) was an Italian immigrant who came to America after being released from a WWI German prisoner of war camp. He had been trained as a stone carver in Europe and settled in Ohio, where, in 1923, he took a stonemason position on the Nickel Plate Railroad and worked there until his retirement in 1961. Zoratti did a few folk art stone sculptures for himself starting in 1958, and he began working in wood after his retirement and would continue carving until the 1980s when he stopped because of failing eyesight. Zoratti completed around 300 sculptures and had them displayed outside in his garden and around his tool shed. Signed "Silvio P. Zoratti 1963" on the bottom of the proper right foot, this 16.75" tall rendition of Beatrix Potter's famous Peter Rabbit depicts the mischievous and wryly grinning cottontail clad in colorful red and blue formal attire and sporting whimsical glass marble eyes with rays emanating from them. This is one of Zoratti's earlier sculptures, and, considering that it was displayed outdoors for many years, it has survived in superb condition with minor weather related paint wear and one tight split in the wood.