| Bibliographic references | - Frescobaldi Malenchini, Livia. Rucellai, Olivia. The Revival of Italian Maiolica: Ginori and Cantagalli. Firenze:Edizioni polistampa, 2011. pp 161,165,209. ill. ISBN 978-88-596-0975-9
- 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. 138-140, Cat. 126
126. Plate with grotesque motifs on a blue ground with a coat-of-arms in the centre
circa 1862
maiolica painted in colours with lustre
diam. 26 cm
no mark
inv. 8048-1862
purchase: International Exhibition in London
in 1862, £ 2
The plate is decorated with a grotesque motif called a “candelabra” in grisaille on a blue background. In the centre there is a shield with a modified version of the Di Dato coat of-arms (ORSINIDEMARZO 2005, p. 892, usually identified as the coat-of-arm of the Di Bate family). These arms, the grotesque motifs, the presence of lustre glazes on a blue background and the ruby red concentric circles on the back are inspired by a series of eight or nine Gubbio plates dated around 1521, all different one from the other but probably belonging to the same set (see RAVANELLIGUIDOTTI 2006, p. 96-97, cat. 24 and POOLE 1995, p. 218-220, n. 295). The decoration on the Ginori plate has parts that are derived from a plate in the Lehman collection in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (inv. 1975.1.1080) i.e. of the motif on the side with a cornucopia surmounted by a marine monster with a leafy tail; it is difficult to say whether the Ginori plate is a reinterpretation of this Renaissance piece or of another lost original from the same set. Grotesque decorations very similar to these appear on a ewer and basin bought a few years earlier (see cat. 124). Although we do not have sufficient elements to attribute the plate with certainty to Egisto Gramigni (1831-?; regarding Gramigni, see BALLERI, RUCELLAI 2011, p. 87-88) we know that after the premature death of Francesco Giusti, he was responsible for most of the imitations of Renaissance maiolica at Doccia (AMD, arm. 1 palch. 3 cart. 156, Florence 5 July 1862, Paolo Lorenzini to Stefano Berti: “[…] I am sending you the Registry of orders taken at the London Exhibition for the maiolica painters. Give it to Gramigni and have him keep it”) along with a small group of assistants (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 154, London 15 May 1862). The plate was acquired by the museum on May 12th 1862 along with a maiolica vase painted with narrative scenes which is no longer at the V&A (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 201, Esposizione di Londra del 1862/Registro delle vendite) and the long necked vase in blue porcelain (see cat. 114), as Paolo Lorenzini wrote to Marquis Ginori: “we made the first sale as soon as the Exhibition opened and had the honour of selling to the R. Museum in Kensington. I immediately attached a label with the name of the buyer to the three pieces we sold” (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 154, letter of 12 May 1862). The excellent publicity for Ginori created by this sale and the interest in these reproductions even among experts of Renaissance maiolica is demonstrated by the fact that during the Exhibition other Ginori pieces similar to this one were sold to famous English collectors like R.S. Holford (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 153, 6a Spedizione n. 70 “a large plate painted with lustre glazes with a tower in the centre crossed by a ruby red band”; for Holford see FORTNUM1873, p. CVIII) and the art dealer David Falcke (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 153, Commissioni adempite con la spedizione 30 luglio 1862…, n. 76 “plate with tower and lustre glazes”; concerning his collection, see CATALOGUE OF THE MAGNIFICIENT COLLECTION 1858). The Ginori representative at the Exhibition was concerned that the copies sent from Doccia be identical to the samples displayed in the pavilion and purchased by the South Kensington Museum. In fact, he wrote the factory to send another plate to Falcke because the plate they had sent “was missing all the yellow lustre” (AMD, arm. 1, palch. 3, cart. 158, Leopoldo Nincheri to Paolo Lorenzini, 19 September 1862).
O.R.
Bibliography:O. Rucellai, in THE REVIVAL OF ITALIAN
MAIOLICA, 2011, p. 164-165, cat. 3
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