LATE 19TH CENTURY, BLUE CROWNED N MARKS TO BOTH, PROBABLY GERMAN, IN THE STYLE OF CAPO DI MONTE

The umbrella term 'Capo di Monte' used to cover this style of high relief ornament has created some confusion over the years. Today we associate this style of decoration with the 18th century work of the Carlo Ginori factory at Doccia which was inspired primarily by the sculptures of the Tuscan master Massimiliano Soldani Benzi. However, in the 19th and early 20th centuries these wares often appeared in auction catalogues and academic publications as being form the Royal factory at Naples. A vase depicting an allegory of Night and a figure of Galathea from models by Soldani Benzi and Giovani Casini now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, purchased at Foster's auction in 1880 as 'Capo di Monte' for the princely sum of £86-6s-0d and published by Morazzoni in 1935, also as Capo di Monte. The desire for old objects was rife among 19th century aristocratic and connoisseur collectors. Pottery and porcelain manufactories across Europe began to produce useful and ornamental wares to feed the demand for the antique. In Germany, the Meissen factory began to produce relief-moulded wares in the Capo di Monte style, this was taken up by manufacturers in Rudolstadt and across Germany.