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

Plaque

ca. 1790-1824 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Oval plaque of a profile portrait bust man in hard-paste porcelain, in Wedgwood blue and white style.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain
Brief description
Plaque of a man in hard-paste porcelain, probably Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, ca. 1790-1824
Physical description
Oval plaque of a profile portrait bust man in hard-paste porcelain, in Wedgwood blue and white style.
Dimensions
  • Height: 8.3cm
  • Width: 6.4cm
Gallery label
Plaque of an Unidentified Man Porcelain, in Wedgwood style ITALY (PROBABLY DOCCIA); about 1785 374-1876 (Label draft attributed to John V. G. Mallet, ca. 1995)(ca. 1995)
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.38-39, Cat.13 13.Medallion representing Ferdinand III of Hapsburg Lorraine 1790-1824 hard-paste porcelain on a blue background h 8,1 cm; width 6,2 cm no mark inv. 374-1876 purchased: E. Dick, 6s Biscuit medallion on a blue background with the profile of Ferdinand III of Hapsburg Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany first from1790 to 1799 and then again from1814 to 1824. In the deposits of the Museo di Doccia there is an oval model in plaster with the same subject (10, 2x7,4 cm) and the same number “1282”, which appears on a series of medals with similar characteristics. This number corresponds to the description in the inventory of the Galleria dei Modelli: “Medaglie ovali in gesso piccole. Rapp. e Una a soggetto mitologico le altre ritratti diversi” (AMD, arm. 3, Galleria deiModelli, n. 1282). On the back of the medallion the name “Ferdinando III” is inscribed along with other letters and numbers that are difficult to interpret but perhaps say “29Mag”: and this makes it possible to attribute the portrait that is represented. This type of medallion was produced by many European factories, chiefly Wedgwood and Sèvres. When the medallion was acquired, the similarities with Wedgwood products were noted in the Register of the South Kensington Museum: “Imitation of Wedgwood’s blue and white jasper ware. Profile portrait bust, in relief, of a gentleman in 18th-century costume. German? 18th?” (V.&A. Register department of ceramics & glass, vol. 18, c. 1, 1876-1249/ 1876). This type of medallion is typical of the Ginori production starting in the 1750s (AGL, XV, 2, f. 137, I,Manifattura di Doccia. Documenti vari, c. 718), but also of this specific typology produced at Doccia from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century for which we have seven other examples, five of which are in the British Museum (DAWSON 2009, p. 23-24, fig. 16, 18), representing: one of Pietro Leopoldo of Hapsburg Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, two of Ferdinand III of Hapsburg Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, two of Maria Luisa Amalia of Bourbon, wife of Ferdinand, and two others in private collections (A. Biancalana, in LUSSO ED ELEGANZA 2013, p. 70-71, cat. 2) with the portrait of Ludovic I of Bourbon, King of Etruria. A.B. Bibliography: unpublished
Collection
Accession number
374-1876

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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