A rare Turin white porcelain (Vische factory) cane handle in the form of a monkey, circa 1765-68

Turin, Museo di Arti Decorative Accorsi -Ometto, La porcellana in Piemonte (1737 - 1825). Le manifatture Rossetti, Vische, Vinovo, 29 January - 24 June 2015.

A. Mottola Molfino, L'Arte della Porcellana in Italia, Piemonte Roma e Napoli, vol. II, Busto Arsizio 1977, tav. 13;

A. D’Agliano, C. Maritano, et al., La porcellana in Piemonte (1737 - 1825). Le manifatture Rossetti, Vische, Vinovo, exhibition catalogue, Museo di Arti Decorative Accorsi-Ometto, Turin 2015, cat. no. 29.

Three porcelain manufactories were established in the region of Piedmont in the 18th century, Rossetti, Vinovo, and the shortest lived factory, Vische. The first was established in Turin in 1737 by Brothers Giorgio and Giovanni Battista Rossetti. After the venture folded in 1748, they retained a patent which prevented others from producing porcelain in Turin for ten years. After the rights of the Rossetti factory expired Piedmontese porcelain production resumed in 1765 when Conte Ludovico Birago di Vische, obtained the Regie Patenti and founded a company, after 10 years of secret experiments. The company received from Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia, the exclusive right to manufacture porcelain in the Kingdom of Sardinia for twenty years. For its mark, the factory used a clover, the emblem of the Birago family, and a W, the initial of the medieval name of the production site.

The factory's short lifespan of just three years was marred by financial difficulties and troubled firings, though it was able to produce some technically wonderful objects, like the present cane handle which appears to be a unique survivor. Its expert modeler for now remains nameless, though some factory documents have survived revealing the names of some of employees, among them two modellers, Cattabini, and Giovanni Battista Cassardi. The last firing took place in July 1768 and included some 1,300 pieces, most of which was sold off at auction after the factory's closure. Today Vische porcelain is regarded among the rarest of European porcelain, with very few pieces recorded. Among them, nine are in the Palazzo Madama collection, mostly illustrated in Molfino, 1977, tavs. 5, 8-12, 14.