Head of Nerva

The Testa di Nerva in porcelain was made from the molds created at the Manifattura Ginori using the plaster casts from the series of the Caesars. From a letter sent in 1754 to Marquis Carlo Ginori by Chancellor Guido Bottari, his art agent in Rome, we know that the casts had been supplied by the sculptor and restorer Giovan Domenico Campiglia: “In one of the boxes, that is the largest, are the Heads of the Twelve Caesars, obtained from Mr. Campiglia” 

The study of the plaster casts mentioned in the letter (partly at the Museo Ginori) confirmed that only the Heads of the Caesars arrived in Doccia. The busts - as explained in a letter Gaspero Bruschi addressed to Ginori in 1754 - the busts were intended to be added subsequently by the manufactory. The current knowledge of some Caesar heads without busts produced suggests that Bruschi’s intention did not come to fruition. They are mounted on a rocaille-style base with a central cartouche, possibly intended for the identification of the depicted figure, similar to the supports of the busts of Vitellius and Hadrian cast in bronze by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi in 1695 for Prince Johann Adam Andreas of Liechtenstein.

Confirmation that this is the definitive solution proposed by the Ginori Factory comes from the Price List of Porcelains from the Doccia Factory compiled by Jacopo Rendelli around 1760, where a separate entry is reserved precisely for the description of these busts: “Life-size Heads of Caesars modeled after the originals of the Capitol with their white porcelain base.”

This work was acquired for the Museo Ginori by the Italian State in 2020.