A Vezzi porcelain compote bowl, circa 1725

Dott. Guido Rossi, Milan, by 1967 (applied paper label);

Enrico Questa Collection, Replica Shoes 's, Milan, 21 March 2005, lot 208.

F. Stazzi, Italienisches Porzellan, Frankfurt, 1964, p. 45, no. 31 and pl. XI

F. Stazzi, Porcellane della Casa Eccellentissima Vezzi, 1720-1727, Milan, 1967, tav. XLIII

A. Mottola Molfino, L'arte della porcellana in Italia, Il Veneto E La Toscana, Busto Arsizio, 1976, vol. I, figs. 62/63, cited

C. Lehner-Jobst and A. d'Agliano, Baroque luxury porcelain: the manufactories of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence: Liechtenstein Museum Vienna, exhibition catalogue, Munich, 2005, p. 130, no. 3

The choice palette and painterly treatment of the enamels seen on the present piece can be compared to a very small group of Vezzi porcelains historically attributed to a painter referred to as Duramano. The surviving pieces associated with this painter include: a globular teapot painted with figures in oriental costume, in the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Madama (Stazzi, 1967, tav. LXXV);

a plate with figures of archers in similar oriental costume, formerly in the Collection of Giovanni and Gabriella Barilla, Geneva, sold, Replica Shoes ’s, London, 14 March 2012, lot 209 (Melegati, 1998, cat. no. 78);

a globular teapot, painted with a simpler version of the scene on the abovementioned plate, formerly in the Sir Fairfax Cartwright Collection, sold, Christie's, London, 17 June 1968, lot 162, later the Ernesto F. Blohm Collection, sold, Christie's, London, 10 April 1989, lot 82;

and an octagonal teapot, also painted with figures including an archer, sold, Christie's, London, 2 March 1992, lot 17.

It has also been speculated that this name could be a Venetian adaptation of the German surname of a painter active as hausmaler. A second compote of a similar form with applied flower garlands and busts is illustrated in A. Mottola Molfino, op.cit., fig. 62/63; L Melegati, op. cit., pp. 131, 133.

Related Literature:

L. Melegati, Giovanni Vezzi e le sue porcellane, Milan, 1998, pp. 130-33, cat. no. 40.