A very rare Capodimonte porcelain cane handle, circa 1750

Alessandro Orsi, Milan (by 1963);

Sotheby’s, London, 18 November 2009, lot 424.

L. Ginori Lisci, La Porcellana di Doccia, Milan 1963, p. 34, pl. 13 (as Doccia);

F. Stazzi, L'arte della ceramica-Capodimonte, Milan 1972, p. 340, pls. 156 and 157 (as Capodimonte);

A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, 1743-1806, exhibition catalogue, Naples 1986, p. 254, cited.

In 1963, this cane handle was erroneously attributed by Ginori Lisci to Doccia, but since has been published with a firm attribution to Capodimonte. A further example of this form in a private collection is illustrated by Caróla-Perrotti, op. cit., p. 254 pl. 199, attributed to Capodimonte, and like the present example features painted panels of single figures in oriental costume. A close variation of the model was produced at Doccia, and an example from the Duca di Martina Museum, Naples, is illustrated in A. d'Agliano in J. Kräftner (ed.), Baroque luxury porcelain: the manufactories of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence, exhibition catalogue, Munich 2005, p. 352, cat. no. 198, where the present example is also cited.