Porcelain, but also paintings, sculptures, semi-precious stone inlay work, ivory, crystal, tapestries and engravings serve to point up the fertile dialogue among the arts, celebrating the magnificence of porcelain in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the rule of the House of Lorraine.

When Count Carlo Ginori summoned Carlo Wendelin Anreiter de Ziernfeld, an Austrian painter specialising in the decoration of porcelain, to his service in 1737, money was clearly no object. A document of the time tells us that “… he [Ginori] is obliged to bring him to Tuscany with his Wife and Children, at his expense, and there to pay him Florins 600 per annum, also providing lodgings for him and for his family, and board and wine for said Ziernfeld alone, and to continue thus with such provision for a period of six years”.

In short, that generous salary plus board (with wine!) and lodging for him, for his wife and for his 10 children, plus 3 more who were born while the couple were in Italy, served to allow Ginori to acquire the services of the best artist in his field on the European marketplace. Ginori clearly wished his manufactory in Sesto Fiorentino to achieve the highest quality in the shortest time possible, while at the same time forging a very close bond with the Vienna manufactory founded by Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier in 1718. The result was that both manufactories' output ended up playing a crucial role in the dissemination of the decorative motifs, forms and artistic techniques that were to forge the dominant taste and style of the period.

All of this and much more is the focus of an exhibition entitled The Princes' Fragile Treasures. The Paths of Porcelain between Vienna and Florence, curated by Rita Balleri, Andreina d'Agliano and Claudia Lehner-Jobst and produced in conjunction with the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (Vaduz–Vienna).

The works on display – porcelain of course, but also paintings, sculptures, semi-precious stone inlay work, ivory, crystal, tapestries and engravings – serve to point up the fertile dialogue among the arts, celebrating the magnificence of porcelain in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the rule of the House of Lorraine. The exhibition showcases loans from national and international institutions, from leading museums in Europe and the United States and from a number of important private collections.

 

The entrepreneurial energy of the Marquis Ginori, a Florentine Senator, spanned broad horizons, and the porcelain he manufactured reveals an international taste that could encompass the Florentine tradition while at the same time being open to influence from the Far East, in particular from China, in his determination to meet the needs of his demanding patrons both in Italy and abroad. If the manufactory was to prosper, it had to be open to all the innovations pouring in from elsewhere, and so the artistic climate and output both in Doccia proper and in the rest of Florence under the House of Lorraine were inspired by a criterion of cosmopolitan excellence. Porcelain was no exception, for it not only mirrored the experiments taking place in other artistic spheres but also reflected a vast range of social customs and fashions at a time of great change, including in people's eating habits. The Medici were the first to develop a taste for chocolate, importing it from Spain in 1663, and it was love at first sight. But as Gallerie degli Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt points out in the exhibition catalogue, the consumption of chocolate and coffee “required the creation of new objects and new tableware, which we can almost hear chinking and glimmering in the splendour of the Kaffeehaus built in the Boboli Garden to a design by Zanobi del Rosso and completed in around 1785 (and, we would add, soon due to reopen after an in-depth restoration campaign). Another architectural jewel commissioned by Pietro Leopoldo, its bulging roundness revealing the influence of Viennese Rococo, it is of course a brick and limewash construction, yet from afar it has the appearance of a fancy porcelain item from Doccia, almost a giant cup with a dome for a lid”.

 

“European cooperation and thought crossing national boundaries – explains Johann Kräftner, Director of the LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna – are manifest in the history of the two manufactories which share a common history of governance and collecting that comes together in this exhibition, a product of the current cooperation between the two institutions and their staff. The exhibition traces the path of this long story not in Vienna, where it has already been explored in an exhibition entitled Barocker Luxus Porzellan in 2005, but in Florence, where the ideas found a common and very fertile terrain”.

Manifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Cristo sulla croce 1730-1735 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia, bassorilievo indorato, legno ebanizzato, bronzo dorato The Cleveland Museum of Art, ClevelandManifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Cornice da specchio 1730 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia, dorata e argentata Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Madama, TorinoManifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Caffettiera 1725 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e argentatata The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna. LIECHTENSTEINManifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Zuppiera con coperchio 1730-1735 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia dorata e argentata The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkManifattura Ginori, Doccia Gruppo con Amore, tritoncelli e coralli 1754-1756 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata, corallo Collezione d’arte Fondazione CR Firenze, FirenzeManifattura Ginori, Doccia Vaso con decoro a bassorilievo istoriato 1750 circa porcellana Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Museo di Palazzo Madama, TorinoManifattura Ginori, Doccia Coppia di rinfrescatoi da bottiglia 1750-1755 porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Museo di Palazzo Madama, TorinoManifattura Ginori, Doccia Fontana da tavola post 1752 – ante 1757 porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, IckworthFig. 8a; Fig. 8b Manifattura Ginori, Doccia Fontana da tavola post 1752 – ante 1757 porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, IckworthGaspero Bruschi, attribuito (Firenze 1710-1780) e Manifattura Ginori, Doccia Centrotavola 1754-1756 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata, legno Collezione Cagnola, Gazzada (Varese)Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Il Fiume (da Jean Jaques Caffieri) 1765 circa Porcellana Belvedere, ViennaGaspero Bruschi, attribuito (Firenze 1710-1780) e Manifattura Ginori, Doccia Ercole (da un marmo antico, con varianti) 1754-1755 circa porcellana The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna, LIECHTENSTEINGaspero Bruschi, attribuito (Firenze 1710-1780) e Manifattura Ginori, Doccia Atteone (da Giuseppe Piamontini, con varianti) 1748-1755 circa porcellana The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna, LIECHTENSTEINManifattura Ginori, Doccia Orologio da tavolo 1777-1778 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata, bronzo dorato e vetro Giordano Art CollectionsManifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Solitaire da colazione 1775 circa porcellana dipinta in blu sotto vernice e dorata Museo delle Porcellane, Gallerie degli Uffizi, FirenzeAnton Grassi (1755-1807) e Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Tre gruppi da dessert per il granduca Pietro Leopoldo: a. Il ratto di Europa; b. L’offerta dell’Amore; c. Tre ninfe 1785-1790 circa biscuit Museo delle Porcellane, Gallerie degli Uffizi, FirenzeAnton Grassi (1755-1807) e Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Tre gruppi da dessert per il granduca Pietro Leopoldo: a. Il ratto di Europa; b. L’offerta dell’Amore; c. Tre ninfe 1785-1790 circa biscuit Museo delle Porcellane, Gallerie degli Uffizi, FirenzeAnton Grassi (1755-1807) e Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Tre gruppi da dessert per il granduca Pietro Leopoldo: a. Il ratto di Europa; b. L’offerta dell’Amore; c. Tre ninfe 1785-1790 circa biscuit Museo delle Porcellane, Gallerie degli Uffizi, FirenzeGiovan Battista Fanciullacci (1745-1825) e Manifattura Ginori, Doccia Tazza da brodo con sottopiatto 1782-1783 porcellana definita masso bastardo dipinta in policromia e dorata Victoria and Albert Museum, LondraManifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Servizio da colazione tête-à-tête con decoro all’Etrusca 1791-1795 porcellana dipinta in policromia con dorature incise e a rilievo The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna. LIECHTENSTEINClaudius Herr (Vienna 1775 – Vienna 1838) e Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Servizio solitaire con raffigurazioni mitologiche tratte dalla vita di Amore (da Angelika Kauffmann) 1807 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna. LIECHTENSTEINLeopold Lieb (1771-1836) e Manifattura Imperiale di porcellane, Vienna Tête-à-tête da colazione 1810-1811 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata Museo delle Porcellane, Gallerie degli Uffizi, FirenzeChristian Frey (Augusta, notizie dal 1724 al 1751) e Manifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Zuppiera con sottopiatto 1735 circa porcellana dipinta in policromia e dorata, montatura in oro, diamanti, cammei in conchiglia Museo Statale Ermitage, San PietroburgoManifattura Du Paquier, Vienna Servizio di caccia dei Principi di Liechtenstein Piatto grande con cavallo e muta di cani 1735 porcellana dipinta in Schwarzlot e dorata The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna. LIECHTENSTEIN
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The Princes' fragile treasures the paths of porcelain between Vienna and Florence

Pitti Palace - Treasury of the Grand Dukes

13 November 2018 - 10 March 2019

Ticket price

From Tuesday to Sunday.

8.15 am - 6.50 pm. The visit of the exhibition is included in the ticket price for Pitti Palace More info

The ticket office closes at 6.05 pm.

Closed on Monday