A rare Naples plate from the 'Servizio Ercolanese' Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, circa 1781-82

painted with a bacchic figure holding a goblet and a staff, the rim moulded with sections of floral scrollwork interspersed with gilt vignettes of birds, all within a moulded beaded border and gilt-edged rim, the reverse inscribed 'MVS. ERCOL./ SERIE DI PITTVRE/ VUN FAVNO/ RITROVATO NEGLI SCAVI/ DI CIVITA'

King Charles III of Spain (1716-88)

The 'Servizio Ercolanese', or Herculaneum Service, was commissioned in 1781 by Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies (1751-1825), and presented the following year to his father, Charles III of Spain. The exact occasion of this gift is not known, though Carola-Perotti speculates that Ferdinand wished to show his father how extraordinary the products of the Naples factory were, in its first service and the first major essay in the neo-classical style (see Angela Carola-Perroti, La Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743-1806, pp.327-345).

The service comprised eighty-eight pieces (excluding twelve busts of philosophers) including thirty-nine plates, of which the present lot is number 12 in the sale delivery list, described as Piatto ... Fig. rap. una Fauno (Carola-Perroti, p.329). The service was painted by Giacomo Milani, the director of the 'Galleria dei pittori', and by Antonio Cioffi, formerly a miniature painter at the Capodimonte manufactory. The main graphic source was le Antichità di Ercolano esposte, published in five volumes between 1757 and 1798, which documented the wall paintings and artifacts excavated at Herculaneum in engravings and explanatory texts.

The completed service was accompanied to Spain by Giacomo Milani and Antonio Cioffi, together with a bound album sent by the director of the manufactory, Domenico Venuti, containing illustrations of the sources for the inspirations of its designs. To the dismay of all involved, neither the album nor the service was accepted with any enthusiasm or appreciation, and Milani and Cioffi were not even permitted to make an official presentation to the king. According to Carola-Perroti (p.328), the king was completely disinterested in the service because it reminded him too much of his former reign over the Two Sicilies, and in particular of the excavations he had initiated - excavations that ultimately precipitated the development of the neo-classical style during the reign of his son, Ferdinand IV.

A pair of wine glass coolers from the service was sold from the Van Slyke Collection by Sotheby's New York, 26th September 1989, lot 256; and two soup tureens and covers were sold by Christie's London, 13th March 1989, lot 44, and 7th July 1997, lot 286.