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Coffee Pot with the Flaying of Marsyas and the Judgment of Paris

Manifattura Ginori

This coffee pot with a zoomorphic spout shaped like a duck is one of the masterpieces of the Manifattura di Doccia. It is decorated with a “historied bas-relief” in polychrome and gold. Giuseppe Liverani related it to a service that belonged to the Prince of Liechtenstein, from which a handleless cup with polychrome historied bas-relief, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 64.101.340), must also have come.

On the sides of the body of the coffee pot are depicted the Flaying of Marsyas and the Judgment of Paris taken from the series of sixteen placchette (plaques) depicting episodes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses designed in bas-relief by the sculptor Guglielmo Della Porta (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, invv. 7768, 7769), active in Rome from 1537. The museum collection includes the lead models derived from the Della Porta series (invv. 6453, 6466), made in 1746 by the sculptor and medallist Anton Francesco Selvi and used, as in the case of this coffee pot, for the decoration of porcelain from the Manifattura Ginori.

01
Caffettiera con il Supplizio di Marsia e il Giudizio di Paride
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Coffee pot with the Torment of Marsyas and the Judgment of Paris

This coffee pot with a zoomorphic spout shaped like a duck is one of the masterpieces of the Manifattura di Doccia. It is decorated with a “historied bas-relief” in polychrome and gold. Giuseppe Liverani related it to a service that belonged to the Prince of Liechtenstein, from which a handleless cup with polychrome historied bas-relief, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 64.101.340), must also have come.

On the sides of the body of the coffee pot are depicted the Flaying of Marsyas and the Judgment of Paris taken from the series of sixteen placchette (plaques) depicting episodes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses designed in bas-relief by the sculptor Guglielmo Della Porta (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, invv. 7768, 7769), active in Rome from 1537. The museum collection includes the lead models derived from the Della Porta series (invv. 6453, 6466), made in 1746 by the sculptor and medallist Anton Francesco Selvi and used, as in the case of this coffee pot, for the decoration of porcelain from the Manifattura Ginori.

Characteristics

Characteristics

Factory

Ginori di Doccia

Date

1750-1765 circa

Materials and techniques

Porcelain with “historied bas-relief” decoration in polychrome and gold

Dimensions

h 24 cm

Inventory

6740

Bibliography

G. Liverani, Il Museo delle Porcellane di Doccia, Sesto Fiorentino 1967, p. 68, tav. LII.

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