A Capodimonte porcelain coffeepot and cover and a teabowl and saucer, circa 1747-52

‘Property of a Gentleman’, sold, Christie’s, London, 29 November 2011, lots 64 (coffeepot) and 65 (cup and saucer).

This silhouette decoration in gilding emulates Hausmaler decoration on early Meissen porcelain of the 1720s, executed in the Seuter workshops at Augsburg, usually depicting chinoiserie figures or European hunting scenes. For a full discussion of decoration ‘bianco e oro’ at Capodimonte see A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743-1806, exhibition catalogue, Naples, 1986, pp. 130-134, and pl. 74b for a beaker with hunting scenes, similar to those on the present lot. On the basis of documents published by Minieri Riccio in 1878, Caròla-Perrotti proposes that this decoration was produced at Capodimonte for a short period of time, from the late 1740s to around 1752, and that the gold was obtained by grinding a particular kind of Hungarian coin or ungaro, or if this was not available, a Venetian zecchino. The gold powder was then refined with nitric acid and silver in a cupel. As at the Meissen manufactory, the iconographical sources for the hunting scenes were probably derived from a variety of prints, including the French prints of Jacques Callot and the engravings of Philips Galle. Unusually, on the coffeepot we find a thematic inconsistency with European trees depicted alongside exotic palm trees, more often found on chinoiserie wares. See also A. d’Agliano et al., Arte e Porcellane Europee nella Collezione Vimercati Sanseverino, Livorno, 2020, p. 378-380, no. 90, for a teabowl and saucer with hunting scenes and further discussion of this type of decoration.

A teapot, probably from this service, linked by the hunting themed decoration and corresponding distinctive scroll supports and borders, was sold at Christie’s, London, 24 May 2011, lot 59 (£133,250).