An Important Doccia porcelain armorial beaker and saucer from the service made for the Marchese Brignole, circa 1742

Marchese Francesco Brignole, Genova;

Dr. Mario Leproni Collection, Campione d'Italia (by 1957);

Sotheby’s, London, 18 November 2009, lot 456.

L. Ginori-Lisci, 'Heraldic porcelains from the Doccia Factory', Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz, Mitteilungsblatt Nr. 40, October 1957, p. 18, tafs. I and II, figs. 3 and 4;

G. Morazzoni and S. Levy, Le porcellane italiane, Milan 1960, vol. II, tav. 168a;

L. Ginori-Lisci, La porcellana di doccia, Milan 1963, p. 31 and illustrated in pls. IVa and b;

A. d’Agliano, 'Different Influences on the Early Painted Porcelain Ware of Doccia', The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, London 1988, p. 16, cited.

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. 334, cat. no. 176, cited;

A. d’Agliano, et al., 'The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection', in Amici di Doccia - Quaderni VII 2013, 2014, pp. 20-21, no. 1, cited.

This exceptional armorial beaker and saucer from the service made in 1742 for the historic Genovese family of the Brignole is one of only five confirmed examples from this service known to survive. It can be counted among the earliest of diplomatic orders produced at Doccia.

The striking, iron-red landscape painting in cartouche on this beaker-saucer pair is a style typical of Carl Wendelin Anreiter (1702-1747), the Viennese gilder who headed the Doccia painting studio between 1737 and 1746. Ginori met Anreiter during one of his many research trips to Vienna and convinced the painter to leave Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier's manufactory in Vienna for his own in Florence. In 1742, Anreiter accompanied Ginori on political business to Vienna where, between Ginori’s back and forth letters with his wife, Anreiter was asked to paint snuffboxes to send as gifts (Ginori-Lisci 1963, p. 31). Pieces from this service are known to bear a V or Ω cypher in underglaze-blue, which since 1957, has been identified as a signature of Anreiter. The same mark appears on the two surviving beakers from an armorial service made for Principessa Anna Maria Luisa de Medici (1667-1743), Electress Palatine, one of which from the Dr. Leproni collection, sold, Sotheby's, London, 18 November 2009, lot 453. Documents in the Ginori archives confirm that the gold, because of its high cost, was used only by the director of the “Pittoria” (the exclusive porcelain decorating section of the factory): “reimbursed to Antonio Corsi the cost of a golden booklet sent to Doccia to Carlo the painter so that he can gild the porcelain” (quoted from d'Agliano, op. cit., 2014, p. 21). The landscapes were inspired by engravings by Aegidius Sadeler and Jan Vischer, after paintings by Jan Breughal, Roelant Savery and Jan van de Velde (d’Agliano, 2005, p. 334)

A letter from 1742, addressed to Carlo Ginori from the chargé d’affairs of the Republic of Genoa at the Court of Tuscany references the delivery of this set of beakers and saucers made for Marchese Brignole (Ginori-Lisci 1963, p. 31).

In total, only five armorial beakers and saucers from this important service are known to survive. The four others comprise: one, sold, Christie’s, Geneva, 17 November 1980, lot 24, now in the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, inv. no., G83.1.709.1-2; a second, sold, Christie’s, Geneva, 16 November 1992, lot 15; a third, from the Vivolo Collection, Cremona, most recently sold at Sotheby’s, Milan, 13 November 2007, lot 199; and the fourth, which since 1941 has been in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, inv. no. r C.12A-1941.

This beaker and saucer pair were in the collection of Dr. Mario Leproni of Campione d’Italia, whose collection was the subject of a visit on 10 May 1961 by the Keramik-Freunde der Schweiz.

Related Literature

A. Lane, Italian Porcelain, London 1954, pl. 46A;

L. Melegati, 'Le porcellane araldiche di una collezione privata' in Ceramica Antica no. 7, 1993, p. 23., no. 7.