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

Plate

ca. 1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Plate of hard-paste porcelain painted with crimson enamel, moulded and gilded. Six-lobed and moulded in relief with scrolls. In the centre, Mercury is with a seated figure of a woman in crimson en camaïeu. Dark blue border with gilt scrollwork and shells, and three reserved panels painted with fruit in crimson.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain painted with crimson enamel, moulded and gilded
Brief description
Plate of hard-paste porcelain, Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, ca. 1780.
Physical description
Plate of hard-paste porcelain painted with crimson enamel, moulded and gilded. Six-lobed and moulded in relief with scrolls. In the centre, Mercury is with a seated figure of a woman in crimson en camaïeu. Dark blue border with gilt scrollwork and shells, and three reserved panels painted with fruit in crimson.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 24.1cm
Marks and inscriptions
An anchor (In gold, probably a later addition)
Gallery label
Plate Porcelain Mark: an anchor, probably a later addition ITALY (DOCCIA); about 1770-1780 Gift of Lt.-Col. K. Dingwall D.S.O. through the National Art-Collections Fund C.102-1926 (Label draft attributed to John V. G. Mallet, ca. 1995)(ca. 1995)
Credit line
Presented by Lt. Col. K. Dingwall, DSO with Art Fund support
Object history
Figures are taken from an engraving by Simonet after H. Gravelot.
Subjects depicted
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 pp. 107-109, Cat. 97 97. Dinner plate with Mercury circa 1780 hard-paste porcelain with tin-glaze painted in purple, blue and gold diam. 23, 8 cm under a red anchor inv. C.102-1926 gift: Lt. Col. K. Dingwall, DSO through The Art Fund Bibliography: MORAZZONI 1935,plate CXXVIIIb (as Cozzi); LANE 1954, plate 52A; LANE 1963, fig. 117 Three dinner plates with a slightly scalloped Rim painted in dark blue with three cartouches inside of which there are purple festoons of fruit on a white ground; on the rim and around the well of the plates there are volutes and borders in gold. The scenes in the centre are taken from the book Les Metamorphoses d’Ovide, translated and commented on by Antoine Banier and printed in Paris from 1767 to1771.The first scene represents the nymph Ocirroe (cat.95), daughter of the centaur Chiron who, in the original engraving, only part of which is used here, informs her father of the fate of Aesculapius (BANIER 1767-1771, vol. I, 1767, plate 32).The engraving was created by the painter Charles Eisen and the engraver Jean Massard. The shape of this plate was first used at the porcelain factory of Sèvres by the Turinese artist Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis around 1760 (I wish to thank Antoine d’Albis for confirming this). The scene in the centre of the second plate (cat. 96) represents a detail from the Birth of Adonis (BANIER 1767-1771, vol. III, 1769, plate 109) which was created by Charles Eisen and the engraver Nicolas De Launay. The scene on the third plate (cat. 97) represents Mercury who enters the room of Herse despite the opposition of her sister Aglauros (BANIER 1767-1771, vol. I, plate 37). Only part of the scene was used. It was created by the painter Hubert Francois Gravelot and the engraver Jean Baptiste Simonet. The factory mark on the back of this last plate with a red anchor was used by the Venetian factory Cozzi but it is obviously a later addition intended to attribute this plate to a factory that was better known among collectors. This anomaly is also to be seen on other Ginori porcelains in the Victoria & Albert Museum (cat. 51, 74). The decoration on the rim is derived from Sèvres models. There are only a few examples of this type of decoration from the factory at Doccia ( for example, GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 143, plate LIV; A. d’Agliano, in LUCCA E LE PORCELLANE 2001, p. 168, cat. 111; MUNGER 2007, p. 31, fig. 21). A.B.
Collection
Accession number
C.102-1926

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest