After a model by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) Italian, Doccia factory, circa 1750

in the white

Probably the example in the collection of Charles William Reynolds;
his sale Christie's, London, 29th May 1871, lot 204;
where acquired by the dealer William Wareham for £25.10

Giuseppe Morazzoni, Le Porcellane Italiane, Vol. II, Milan, 1960, tav. 233;
Klaus Lankheit, Florentinische Barockplastik. Die Kunst am Hofe der letzten Medici. 1670-1743, Munich, 1962, p. 136;
Klaus Lankheit, Die Modellsammlung der Porzellanmanufaktur Doccia, Munich, 1982, pp. 122-123;
Alessandro Biancalana, Porcellane e Maioliche a Doccia, La Fabbrica dei Marchesi Ginori I primi cento anni, Florence, 2009, p. 89;
Cristina Maritano, 'Fortuna delle sculture in porcellana di Doccia in Inghilterra: la collezione di Emanuele d'Azeglio', in Amici di Doccia Quaderni V, 2011, pp. 10-33.

This group is formed of separately fired pieces which have been pinned together. The highest putto, left foot fragmented and repaired; The putto below, right fingers restored; The putto at base, left fingers restored, right wing lacking; To Daphne, her left toes restored, there is a section of spray to her shoulders and to a laurel branch; To Apollo, his right foot replaced. The hands of both Daphne and Apollo are restored. There are areas of spray to the rockwork base.
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“Since thou canst not be my bride, thou shalt at least be my tree. My hair, my lyre, my quiver shall always be entwined with thee, O laurel”
Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. F. J. Miller, Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1977, 41.

According to Ovid, Apollo mocked Eros the god of love, for using a bow and arrow, weapons of war. The insulted Eros took two arrows, one made of gold to kindle Love, with which he struck Apollo, and with another made of lead to incite hatred he struck the nymph Daphne, a daughter of the river god Peneus. Apollo then pursued the unwilling Daphne. Daphne prayed to her father to save her and upon hearing her pleas Peneus cast an enchantment over his daughter, her skin turned to bark, branches sprouted from her arms and roots from her feet, and she turned into a laurel tree.

This beautiful and ambitious figural group is a feat of porcelain manufacturing, taken from a model by the great Baroque Florentine sculptor Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740). Surviving letters, which are now preserved in Oxford University, show the correspondence between the sculptor and a London based agent, the Florentine Giovanni Giacomo Zamboni. In a passage from one such letter of 15th October 1716, referenced by Charles Avery (op. cit., 2005, pp. 16-17) Soldani writes to Zamboni of the recent visit by the young Lord Burlington to his studio and his order of two reliefs, two companion pieces and four groups, the last and most expensive, priced at 250 gold louis was Daphne and Apollo:

'un gruppo assai piu ricco, che rappresenta Apollo, che abbraccia Dafne, che si trasforma in Lauro con tre Amori, che scherzano, e rendono il Gruppo assai piu ricco, et armonioso, con altre cose, che compongono il medesimo…', [a still richer group. It represents Apollo embracing Daphne, who is changing into a laurel tree, with three playing putti, who make the group yet richer and more harmonious, and other details which finish the composition off...].

A passage from a further letter of December 1717 (Avery, op. cit 2005, p.17) Soldani writes of the group to Zamboni, ‘para a me che sia per un monarca’, [fit for a king]. A black and white photograph of a bronze of this model, now lost, is reproduced by D. Zikos, (op. cit., 2005, no. 9) and a terracotta model of the same form (Zikos, op. cit. 2005, no. 10) which was in the Elizabeth Parke Firestone Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 22nd-23rd March, 1991, lot 840, is now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, object no. 1992,230.

The Marchese Carlo Ginori shortly after founding the Doccia factory in 1737 in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence, began acquiring and commissioning plaster moulds and wax casts of works by the sculptors Soldani-Benzi and Giovanni Battista Foggini, to be produced in porcelain. Ginori Lisci, (op. cit. 1963, p. 303) references a receipt which lists some of the moulds acquired in 1744 from Soldani’s son Fernando, and whilst the present group is not included, the equally ambitious ‘Un gruppo d’Andromeda‘ - a Doccia porcelain version of which is now in the Stibbert Museum, Florence, (illustrated by J. Kräftner (ed.), op. cit., 2005, no. 306) - is amongst the six groups mentioned. Ginori continued to add to the factory’s collection of moulds and casts until his death in 1757.

Daphne and Apollo as a subject is mentioned three times in the Inventario de'Modelli, a listing of the wax, plaster and terracotta models housed at the Doccia Factory:

Gruppi posati sul banco Terza stanza, pagina 22, No. 19, 'Gruppo di Apollo e Dafne. Del Foggini in cera con forma', [Groups placed on the bench, Third room, page 22, no. 19., A group representing Apollo and Daphne, by Foggini, in wax], listing twelve sections to the mould (published by Lankheit, op. cit., 1982, p.121).

pagina 23, No. 31, 'Gruppo di Apollo e Dafne con 3 putti e alberi. Di Massimiliano Soldani in cera con forma.', [page 23, no. 31, A group representing Apollo and Daphne with three putti and trees, by Massimiliano Soldani, in wax.], listing twenty-five sections to the mould (published by Lankheit, op. cit., 1982, p. 121-123).

Quinta Stanza, Statue e busti posate sul banco, pagina 51, No. 33, 'Un gruppo rappresentante Apollo e Daphne. L'originale è del Bernino in Villa Pinciana, senza forme.', [Fifth room, Statues and busts placed on the bench, A group representing Apollo and Daphne. The original by Bernini in Villa Pinciana.] (published by Lankheit, op. cit., 1982, p. 146).

The second entry is probably referencing the present model.

RELATED LITERATURE
Ginori Lisci, La Porcellana di Doccia, Milan, 1963; C. Avery, 'The Pedestals, Frames, Mounts and Presentation of Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi's bronze statuettes and reliefs', in Furniture History, Vol. 31, 1995, pp. 7-22; C. Avery, 'Soldani's mythological bronzes and his British clientele', Sculpture Journal, XIV, 2005, pp. 8-29; D. Zikos, 'Prince Johann Adam Andreas I of Liechtenstein and Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, The late Baroque Florentine Bronze Sculpture', J. Kräftner (ed.) Baroque Luxury Porcelain, exh. cat., Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna, 2005, pp. 157-177; P. Fogelman, P. Fusco & M. Cambareri, Italian and Spanish Sculpture catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, 2002, pp. 268-276