Plaque
early 19th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Plaque of hard-paste porcelain moulded in relief with classical subjects, painted with enamels and gilded. Rectangular. To the right are amours of Mars and Venus with Cupid in the foreground. To the left is Vulcan with his anvil and in the background are servants at Vulcan's forge, and Minerva with two naked woman. In the sky are Jupiter and Apollo.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Hard-paste porcelain painted with enamels, moulded and gilded |
| Brief description | Plaque of hard-paste porcelain, probably Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, early 19th century. |
| Physical description | Plaque of hard-paste porcelain moulded in relief with classical subjects, painted with enamels and gilded. Rectangular. To the right are amours of Mars and Venus with Cupid in the foreground. To the left is Vulcan with his anvil and in the background are servants at Vulcan's forge, and Minerva with two naked woman. In the sky are Jupiter and Apollo. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Legh Tolson Bequest |
| Object history | Probably from an earlier mould. |
| 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. 47-48, Cat. 21
21. Mars and Venus at Vulcan’s Forge
mid-19th century
hard-paste porcelain with tin-glaze
painted with colours and gold
h 11,3 cm; width 14,3 cm
no mark
inv. C.77-1932
bequest: Leigh Tolson
These two rectangular plaques have bas-relief scenes representing Mars and Venus at Vulcan’s Forge and a Bacchanal. The scenes are based on two plaques attributed to Guglielmo Della Porta that belonged to a set of sixteen dedicated to the Metamorphosis by Ovid (P. Cannata, in RILIEVI E PLACCHETTE DAL XV AL XVIII SECOLO 1982, p. 72-76, cat. 69- 75). The models in lead are in the Museo di Doccia (inv. 6463, 6468); the one with the Bacchanal is labelled “Il banchetto degli dei”. The models in lead were probably made for the factory between 1743 and 1745 by Antonio Francesco Selvi or by Anton Filippo Maria Weber (AGL, Libro Contabile 1737-1746, c. 221v). The plaster moulds, however, were probably made by Girolamo Cristofani who, On April 9th1745, received payment “for having made 4 bas-reliefs and 16 large ones” (AGL,LibroContabile, c. 221v). For the plaque (cat. 22) Della Porta seems to have been inspired by a fresco on the ground floor of Villa Giulia in Rome, which has been attributed to Taddeo Zuccari, or to Prospero Fontana (P.Cannata, in RILIEVI E PLACCHETTE DALXV AL XVIII SECOLO, 1982, p. 74, cat. 76). The acquisition of the Bacchanal plaque at the Paris exhibitionin1855 as “Italian Modern” suggests a date for both plaques to themid-19th century. For further historical information on bas-relief decoration, see cat. 17.
A.B
Bibliography: unpublished |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.77-1932 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
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