Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Jar

1740-1741 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Jar with cover and base, tin-glazed earthenware, Doccia, 1740-41


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Jar
  • Cover
  • Base
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware
Brief description
Jar with cover and base, tin-glazed earthenware, Doccia, 1740-41
Dimensions
  • Height: 8.25in
Gallery label
Jar, with cover and base. Made in Italy Tin-glazed earthenware C.12-1956 Given by Mr Alfred Brown(16/07/2008)
Credit line
Given by Mr Alfred Brown
Object history
Mr. Alfred Brown, ( Art Director, Societa Ceramica Richard- Ginori).
Production
One of a series made in the 18th century to contain samples of clay and other minerals used at the Doccia factory. The jars have been preserved since in the Doccia factory near Florence. Other examples are now in the collections of Mr. Brown and of Marchese Leonardo Ginori-Lisci (Villa di Doccia). For Doccia maiolica, see (Marchese) Leonardo Ginori-Lisci and Giuseppe Liverani, "Maioliche settecentesche della manifattura Ginori", Faenza vol. XLII, 1956, pp.19-22. Compare B.Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, No. 1274
Bibliographic reference
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. 129, Cat. 119 Maiolica 119. Glass jar with maiolica base and cover 1740-1741 maiolica and glass base diam. 14,2 cm; cover diam. 11,2 cm; glass jar, h. 14,5 cm no mark inv. C.12 to B-1956 gift: Mr Alfred Brown, Art Director, Società Richard-Ginori Immediately after founding his renowned porcelain factory at Doccia in 1737, Marquis Carlo Ginori began an intense and long-term activity of experimentation and research aimed at identifying the pigments and, above all, the clays most suitable for the manufacture of objects in maiolica and porcelain. In order to display the tangible results of this research, which continued under his heirs until at least 1866 (AMD, Catalogo delle terre eminerali),Ginori formed a collection which is called the “Museo delle Terre”, that is, the museum of minerals, which consisted of a series of cylindrical glass jars with bases and tops made of maiolica containing samples of the minerals and clays that had been collected all over the world. Besides the 178 examples of these containers that are displayed in the Museo di Doccia, there are over 1600 maiolica bases and tops and 798 glass jars still stored in the basement of the factory (MOORE VALERI 2007, p. 50-60). The organization of the collection must have begun starting in 1740; in fact, the bases and tops with their French-Dutch decorations were made mostly under the direction of Nicholas Letourneau of Nevers, who was active at the factory from October 1740 until his premature death just seven months later, in June of 1741 (GINORI LISCI, LIVERANI 1955, p. 87-89). Among the maiolica bases that are stored in the factory there are five that have the date written inside of them: one with the year 1740 and four with the year 1741. According to a receipt dated August 29th 1738 issued by the glassworks of Giovanni Battista Morandi in Florence, the glass jars were first ordered in that year and then later reordered as the collection grew (GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 29 and note 16). The vase was given by Alfred Brown, art director of Società Ceramica Richard Ginori (for another gift see cat. 26). A.M.V. Bibliography: unpublished
Collection
Accession number
C.12 to B-1956

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Record createdJuly 16, 2008
Record URL
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