A unique Italian porcelain beaker, perhaps Vezzi circa 1720-27

enamelled with a chinoiserie figure seated on a plinth holding a staff, a large exotic bird flying towards him with a necklace around its neck, the interior rim with  a foliate border (minor firing crack to footrim)

This celebrated beaker has been much discussed in the literature on Italian porcelain. Its creamy paste and soft glaze have led to an attribution to Capodimonte by Morazzoni and Levy (see Le porcellane Italiane, pl. 282), but most authors are agreed on a tentative Vezzi attribution. Francesco Stazzi, in Porcellana della casa ecceletissima Vezzi, pl.cv best sums up opinion; 'oggetto primitivo e forse sperimentale di grande interesse....puo, per esclusione di altracoeva fabbrica, essere assegnato, con riserva, al Vezzi.'

Overall in very good condition. There is a minor firing crack which runs around the footrim, approx. 1cm. in length
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