Plateau
1870 to 1877 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Ginori company, founded in 1735 in Doccia near Florence, built its reputation on imitations of Italian lustred wares and maiolica of around 1500. Under the Marchese Lorenzo Ginori Lisci (d.1878), director from 1848, the pottery produced designs reflecting more varied and more contemporary tastes but also continued making its successful lustred wares. In 1896 the pottery came under the ownership of Giulio Richard who already owned other factories. Combined, the new company was known as the Società Ceramica Richard-Ginori.
The foliate decoration in white on the brown ground imitates a Renaissance technique called bianco sopra bianco (white onto an off-white glaze). The original Renaissance example is unknown, the plateau may be modelled on a combination of pieces, but a dish with a similar central motif is in the V&A collection 8958-1863. The male depicted in both the Renaissance and Ginori examples is dressed in a combination of classical European and Middle-Eastern style dress and was probably a fictional depiction of an 'Oriental' figure.
The foliate decoration in white on the brown ground imitates a Renaissance technique called bianco sopra bianco (white onto an off-white glaze). The original Renaissance example is unknown, the plateau may be modelled on a combination of pieces, but a dish with a similar central motif is in the V&A collection 8958-1863. The male depicted in both the Renaissance and Ginori examples is dressed in a combination of classical European and Middle-Eastern style dress and was probably a fictional depiction of an 'Oriental' figure.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Earthenware, painted, modelled in relief, glazed |
| Brief description | Plateau, earthenware painted in colours, made by Richard Ginori, Italy (Doccia), 1870-77 |
| Physical description | Plateau, painted in colours and modelled in relief with profile head of a bearded man surrounded with panels of white foliage (in imitation of sopra bianco) on brown and dark blue grounds |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | Bought from the art dealer William Campbell Spence, Florence in 1877. William Campbell Spence (1849-1927 living at 6, Via Micheli, Florence, Italy) was the son of William Blundell Spence (1814-1900) a painter, art collector and dealer. |
| Production | Factory model number 12, decoration number 311. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The Ginori company, founded in 1735 in Doccia near Florence, built its reputation on imitations of Italian lustred wares and maiolica of around 1500. Under the Marchese Lorenzo Ginori Lisci (d.1878), director from 1848, the pottery produced designs reflecting more varied and more contemporary tastes but also continued making its successful lustred wares. In 1896 the pottery came under the ownership of Giulio Richard who already owned other factories. Combined, the new company was known as the Società Ceramica Richard-Ginori. The foliate decoration in white on the brown ground imitates a Renaissance technique called bianco sopra bianco (white onto an off-white glaze). The original Renaissance example is unknown, the plateau may be modelled on a combination of pieces, but a dish with a similar central motif is in the V&A collection 8958-1863. The male depicted in both the Renaissance and Ginori examples is dressed in a combination of classical European and Middle-Eastern style dress and was probably a fictional depiction of an 'Oriental' figure. |
| 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. 140-141, Cat. 127
127. Basin with bianco sopra bianco
decoration and portrait bust
1870-1877
maiolica painted in colours
diam. 35,5 cm
factory model number “12”, decoration number “311” on the centre reverse a crown above “12-311” painted in blue; “Ginori manufactory/Price 55
francs” painted over glaze in black
inv. 702-1877
purchase: William Campbell Spence, £ 2 5s
The foliate decoration in white on the brown ground on this basin imitates a Renaissance technique called bianco sopra bianco (white onto an off white glaze). An original model is unknown and the basin probably derives from a combination of pieces, but a dish with a similar central motif is in the V&A collection inv. 8958-1863. The male depicted in both the Renaissance and Ginori examples is dressed in a combination of classical European and Middle-Eastern style dress and was probably taken from a fictional depiction of an ‘Oriental’ figure. The Ginori basin was bought from the art dealer William Campbell Spence based in Florence in 1877 (FLEMING 1979, p. 492-508). Campbell Spence was the son of William Blundell Spence, a painter, art collector and dealer who also sold works of art to the South Kensington Museum. This plate was one of twenty- two pieces acquired from Campbell Spence that year (V&A inv. 692 to 713-1877), all 19th-centurymaiolica from Cortona, Florence and Gubbio. Such potteries made close imitations very much in the same spirit as the 15th-and 16th-century originals which were their inspiration. It was often described as “old maiolica ware”.
R.W.
Bibliography: unpublished |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 702-1877 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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