A group of Doccia porcelain relief-moulded wares, circa 1760 and 19th century

Moulded and painted low-relief decoration featuring mythological subject matter was one of the most successful innovations at Doccia and was used for the production of plaques and on table wares. Cups decorated with relief scenes are mentioned in the 1742 warehouse inventory, suggesting it was already in production in the early years of the manufactory. The Doccia archives holds the records of a payment made on 25 May 1744 to Anton Filippo Weber for a low relief of the Fall of the Giants, and subsequently, Anton Francesco Selvi, a Florentine medallist and pupil of Soldani Benzi, is recorded in the accounts as receiving several payments for low-relief plaques. Further entries referring to a 'Bacchic scene in wax' and for 'Bacchic scenes in lead' appear in the accounts between 1745 and 1747. These mythological scenes were used for producing ornamental plaques and for transferring onto tablewares. Some were probably taken from reliefs by Della Porta and others from Ovid's Metamorphoses, published in 1734 in Amsterdam by Banier. For further discussion of this type of decoration and a tureen and cover with scenes of the Massacre of Niobe's Children, the Fall of the Giants and Apollo flaying Marsyas, see C. Lehner-Jobst, A. d'Agliano et. al, Baroque Luxury Porcelain, The Manufactories of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence, exhibition catalogue, Munich, 2005, pp. 275-276, cat. no. 95.