Cup thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Cup

ca. 1745-1755 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Cup of hard-paste porcelain with stencilled painting in underglaze blue. Tall with vertical sides curving out at the lip and in to the foot-ring. The walls are double, the inner one being stencil-painted with blue flowers before enclosure in the outer wall, which is pierced and moulded with flowers and leaves in relief.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain with stencilled painted in underglaze blue, pierced and moulded
Brief description
Cup of hard-paste porcelain and with double walls, Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, ca. 1745-1755.
Physical description
Cup of hard-paste porcelain with stencilled painting in underglaze blue. Tall with vertical sides curving out at the lip and in to the foot-ring. The walls are double, the inner one being stencil-painted with blue flowers before enclosure in the outer wall, which is pierced and moulded with flowers and leaves in relief.
Dimensions
  • Height: 7.6cm
Gallery label
Cup with Double Walls Porcelain ITALY (DOCCIA); about 1740-1745 Gift of Dr Bernard Watney C.39-1959 (Label draft attributed to John V. G. Mallet, ca. 1995)(ca. 1995)
Credit line
Given by Dr Bernard Watney
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Frescobaldi Malenchini, Livia ed. With Balleri, Rita and Rucellai, Oliva, ‘Amici di Doccia Quaderni, Numero VII, 2013, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection’, Edizioni Polistampa, Firenze, 2014 p.39, Cat. 14 14. Double-walled cup with pierced work decoration 1745-1755 hard-paste porcelain partially painted in blue h 7,5 cm; diam. 7 cm no mark inv. C.39-1959 gift: Dr Bernard Watney This type of cup without handles, usually called a “chicchera” in the Ginori documents, is derived from Chinese prototypes of the Ming dynasty that were designed for drinking tea. The double-wall represents a technical tour de force and was useful for protecting the hand from the hot liquid inside. The outside wall is pierced and moulded with flowers and leafy branches. The inside wall repeats the same motif with the decoration in blue applied with a stencil “a stampino”, a technique that was typical of the First Period at Doccia. For information on the “stampino” decoration, see cat. 26. These porcelains were made in various types and were decorated with motifs in bas-relief, cameos and leaves (GINORI LISCI 1963 p. 41). At Doccia, the manufacture of double walled porcelain objects is typical of the years from 1745 to 1755 and included coffee pots as well as cups (MORAZZONI 1935; GINORI LISCI 1963, plate XXI), bowls and hand-warmers (A. Biancalana, in LA MANIFATTURA TOSCANA DEI GINORI 1998, p. 95, cat. 122).A series of double-walled bowls is in the British Museum; one is decorated with a ram’s head and has the inside wall painted with stenciled decorations in blue like this cup (DAWSON 2009, p. 21, fig. 10-12).Other similar cups are at the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels (MOTTOLA MOLFINO 1976-1977, vol. I, fig. 46) and at the Stibbert Museum in Florence (A. d’Agliano, in LE PORCELLANE EUROPEE, 2002, p. 38, cat. 41). L.F.M. Bibliography: unpublished
  • Passion for Porcelain: masterpieces of ceramics from the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. p.183
Collection
Accession number
C.39-1959

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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