This type of cylindrical vase, with modelled handles and a lid featuring a handle in the shape of a crouching lion was probably intended to hold ice to keep beverages, fruit, and ice cream cool.
The decoration, which displays the coats of arms of Marquis Francesco Marana and his wife Laura Isola, topped by a crown and flanked by small bouquets of flowers and ribbons, is created using two techniques typical of the early production of the Manifattura di Doccia, the “transfer” and the “stencil.”
The “transfer”, used for the interior part of the coats of arms, involved transferring a design engraved on a metal plate onto porcelain using a thin sheet of paper as an intermediate support. The “stencil” consisted in cutting out a “mask” which was placed on the porcelain object and then filled with uniform areas of cobalt blue applied with a pad or brush.
The dating of the cooler can be derived from a letter dated October 1750, in which Laura Isola thanks Carlo Ginori for a set of blue and white porcelains received the previous year. This reference provides the chronological basis to credit Carlo Ginori with being among the first in Europe to experiment with the transfer technique, later developed mainly in England.
Besides the version at the Museo Ginori, other coolers bearing the Marana Isola coats of arms and slight variations in decoration and shape are displayed at the Museo Internazionale della Ceramica di Faenza, the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Medievale e Moderna di Arezzo (inv.771 F), the Musei Civici of Genoa (inv. G.P.B. 1267), and in a private collection.
