1781-82
Details
A Naples (Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea) plate from the 'Ercolanese' Service
1781-82
Finely stippled with a satyr pouring wine from a jug while balanced on a rope suspended from two large flowerheads with a pendant swag of trailing laurel below, within a circular gilt line at the well, the border moulded with a band of scrolling foliage and flowerheads divided by four panels with gilt ciselé birds, eels, crustaceans and molluscs within a gilt line rim, the underside inscribed in black with MVS. ERCOL. SERIE. DI PITTVRE FVNAMBOLO TROVATO NEGLI SCAVI DI CIVITA. (slight wear to enamels, minute wear to gilding)
9.7/8 in. (24.9 cm.) diam.
1781-82
Finely stippled with a satyr pouring wine from a jug while balanced on a rope suspended from two large flowerheads with a pendant swag of trailing laurel below, within a circular gilt line at the well, the border moulded with a band of scrolling foliage and flowerheads divided by four panels with gilt ciselé birds, eels, crustaceans and molluscs within a gilt line rim, the underside inscribed in black with MVS. ERCOL. SERIE. DI PITTVRE FVNAMBOLO TROVATO NEGLI SCAVI DI CIVITA. (slight wear to enamels, minute wear to gilding)
9.7/8 in. (24.9 cm.) diam.
Provenance
Charles III, King of Spain (1716-1788)
The 'Ercolanese' Service was commissioned in 1781 by Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies as a gift to his father Charles III, King of Spain.
This was the first service produced by the Naples Factory under the Directorship of Domenico Venuti who was appointed to the factory in 1779. Venuti, the son of an archaeologist and formerly the General Superintendant of Antiquities for the city of Naples, played an instrumental role in the factory's production of pieces in the latest neoclassical style with a distinctive 'antique' flavour inspired by the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii in 1738 and 1740.
The service comprised eighty-eight pieces and the painted decoration was executed by Giacomo Milani, the director of the 'Galleria dei pittori' and by Antonio Cioffi, formerly a miniature painter at the Capodimonte factory. It was accompanied by Milani and Cioffi to Spain, and was presented to Charles III together with an elaborately bound album containing illustrations of the sources for the inspiration of the designs. Sadly, neither the service or the album were received with enthusiasm by the King as they reminded him too much of his former reign over the Two Sicilies and the excavations which he had initiated.
For a full discussion of the service see Angela Caròla-Perrotti, op. cit. (1986), pp. 330-345. A soup-tureen from this service was sold in these Rooms on 7 July 1997, lot 286 and the companion soup-tureen on 13 March 1989, lot 44.
The 'Ercolanese' Service was commissioned in 1781 by Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies as a gift to his father Charles III, King of Spain.
This was the first service produced by the Naples Factory under the Directorship of Domenico Venuti who was appointed to the factory in 1779. Venuti, the son of an archaeologist and formerly the General Superintendant of Antiquities for the city of Naples, played an instrumental role in the factory's production of pieces in the latest neoclassical style with a distinctive 'antique' flavour inspired by the excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii in 1738 and 1740.
The service comprised eighty-eight pieces and the painted decoration was executed by Giacomo Milani, the director of the 'Galleria dei pittori' and by Antonio Cioffi, formerly a miniature painter at the Capodimonte factory. It was accompanied by Milani and Cioffi to Spain, and was presented to Charles III together with an elaborately bound album containing illustrations of the sources for the inspiration of the designs. Sadly, neither the service or the album were received with enthusiasm by the King as they reminded him too much of his former reign over the Two Sicilies and the excavations which he had initiated.
For a full discussion of the service see Angela Caròla-Perrotti, op. cit. (1986), pp. 330-345. A soup-tureen from this service was sold in these Rooms on 7 July 1997, lot 286 and the companion soup-tureen on 13 March 1989, lot 44.