Like the earlier ‘Medici porcelain’ works in Florence, the Doccia factory was founded by a nobleman who was himself closely involved in the technical side of making porcelain – the Marchese Carlo Ginori (1702-1757). Indeed, it is likely that the Marchese was aware of and admired ‘Medici porcelain’, as he occasionally used the same factory mark of the dome of Florence Cathedral.

Under Carlo Ginori, the factory undertook some remarkable experiments in porcelain production, including ambitious large figure sculptures, some of the earliest attempts at transfer-printing in underglaze cobalt blue, double-walled pierced cups inspired by Chinese Dehua brush pots, and useful wares like this coffee pot made for a service for Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani.

Stoppani was Nunzio in Tuscany from 1735 to 1739 and was a friend of Carlo Ginori. In a letter of 1752 he reminded Ginori that he had sent him a drawing with his family coat-of-arms, probably for reproduction on this service, and another letter dated December of the following year records the delivery of the service.

The painted decoration of the service, with naturalistically painted flowers and insects, is indebted to the Vienna Du Paquier factory. The distinctive shape of this coffee pot with its elongated neck, bird's head spout, bulbous body and domed cover, recalls Persian metalware coffee pots, water ewers and jugs.