Medallion
1751-1757 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Medallion of hard-paste porcelain of Maria Magdalena, wife of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Hard-paste porcelain |
| Brief description | Medallion of hard-paste porcelain of Maria Magdalena, Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, 1751-1757 |
| Physical description | Medallion of hard-paste porcelain of Maria Magdalena, wife of Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| 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.37-38, Cat.12
12. Medallion representing Maria
Maddalena of Austria
1751-1757
hard-paste porcelain partially painted in cobalt
blue
diam. 6,9 cm
no mark
inv. 373-1876
purchase: E. Dick, 7s
Medallion with a profile in white on a blue ground representing Maria Maddalena of Austria, who married the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II de’ Medici in 1608. Along the inside of the frame there is an inscription: “MAR.MAGDALENAE. AUSTRIACA. MAG. D. ETR.”. The model for this portrait is a medal by Antonio Selvi which belonged to the Medici Series that he made from 1740 to 1744; the series initially consisted of 76 medallions, to which others were added later for a total of 111 (TODERI, VANNEL, 1987, p. 222, n. 321). Selvi’s medal was, in turn, based on a medal made by Guillaume Dupré in 1613; the plaster cast is in the Museo di Doccia. Medallions inspired by this series were used to decorate the “Macchina” dedicated to the “Glories of Tuscany”, the famous Tempietto or little temple which Carlo Ginori presented to the Accademia Etrusca in Cortona some time between 1751 and 1757 (BALLERI 2009, p. 7-21; BIANCALANA 2009, p. 50-52). Some examples of these medallions are in the Museo di Doccia (invv. 1326-1330; WINTER 2003, p. 98-99, cat. 21) and others, with the variation of a ring added at the top, are in the British Museum (DAWSON 2009, p. 22, fig. 13-14). This typology appeared quite early in use at the factory; on April 21st 1751 Marquis Carlo Ginori wrote: “In a little box you will find some moulds including some cameos; give them to Orlandini so that he can make them with a blue background, with white heads and the blue medallion with the usual white rim, like he did with the last cameo and after he has finished, Bruschi can touch them up a bit before firing them; after that Poggetti can smooth and polish the background under them like he did with the cameos so that they are perfectly oval” (AGL, XV, 2, f. 137, I, Manifattura di Doccia. Documenti vari, 2, c. 718r). These medallions, all of which have a blue ground, are described in detail in the Inventory of Models of the Doccia factory (LANKHEIT 1982, p. 147, 57:a).
A.B.
Bibliography: unpublished |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 373-1876 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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