PRODUCTION AT DOCCIA BETWEEN 1790 -1847 AND ROYAL COMMISSIONS FOR THE LUCCA PALACES By Atidrcina d’Agliano Production at the Doccia manufactory in the last decade of the 18th century was particularly influ­ enced by the taste for the antique, which affected the development of the Tuscan manufactory in two principal directions. On the one hand there was the influence of the taste for classical ruins introduced through prints by French artists working in Rome in the circle of Piranesi1, and on the other hand the archaeological discoveries made in Naples, and the dynastic links between the Neapolitan and the Florentine courts, which added extensive Neapolitan iconographical sources to the Doccia repertoire2. In 1785, the extremely good relationship between the Marchesi Ginori and the Neapolitan sovereigns inspired Ferdinand IV of Naples to send Lorenzo Ginori the first two volumes of the most valuable publication to be printed in Naples, Le Antichitd di Ercolano esposte. This was a collection of prints repre­ senting the frescoes and statues brought to light during the archaeological excavations at Hercula­ Figure 2. Two biscuit statuettes representing the Flora Farnese neum and Pompeii. Published in ten volumes (1757- and Bacchus, Doccia, 1800-1815, 8'/inches (21 cm) and 8 inches (20.5 cm) high. Musco dclle Porcellanc, Palazzo Pitti. 1792) to be found today in the archives at Doccia, they had immense impact on the shapes and decora­ tion of the tableware produced at Doccia at the turn Further innovations, especially technical and of the century ' (fig. 1). stylistic, were introduced in the first fifteen years of the 19th century when Tuscany was politically reorganised during the Napoleonic era. In 1799 Ferdinand III of Tuscany left Florence and went into exile, replaced in 1801 by Louis of Bourbon-Parma, who was named King of Etruria. After his death in 1803, his widow Maria Luisa acted as regent for their son Carlo Lodovico until 1807. Meanwhile, Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi, became Princess of Lucca and Piombino in 1805, remaining so until 1809 when she became Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1809-1814). Under Napoleonic influence the courts in both Lucca and Florence received important gifts of Sevres porcelain (some are today in the Palazzo Pitti) with, among the most valuable pieces, the colossal Sevres vase (more than 2 metres high) after a model by Boizot Figure 1. Plate painted in black and red monochrome with a view and with bronze mounts by Thomire, which was a of Herculaneum based on a print illustrated in Le Antichita di Ercolano exposte, vol. VII, Doccia, c. 1800-1810, 9V: inches gift from Napoleon to Louis, King of Etruria, in (24 cm). Musco delle Porcellane di Doccia, Sesto Fiorentino. l SOI4. ICF&S 2002 Elisa Baciocchi favoured the promotion of local craftmanship. While Princess of Lucca, she promoted the Accademia di Belle Arti of Carrara5, where copies in marble were produced after the antique statues in the Capitoline Museums in Rome and the Uffizi in Florence. At Doccia biscuit figures after the antique were produced; a series of white biscuit figures made at Doccia in the first decade of the 19th century and today in the Palazzo Pitti, illustrates this kind of taste (fig. 2). The inventory of the Villa Marlia near Lucca also Figure 3a. Cup in biscuit representing Elisa Baciocchi, the interior gilded and the saucer (?) decorated with gilded leaves, Doccia, c. 1810-1814. Cup: 3Y inches (9.3 cm). Saucer: 5 inches (13 cm) diameter. Private Collection. Elisa herself and made at Doccia, which is today in the Doccia Museum (fig. 3, 3a)". The influence of Neapolitan porcelain production became more marked at Doccia after 1807, when the Real Fabbrica of Naples closed and various painters joined the Ginori factory. Among these was the landscape painter Ferdinando Ammannati who introduced view painting to Doccia. According to archival sources he painted a service decorated with polychrome views of Italy between 1810 and 1820''. Among the Doccia porcelain listed in the Villa Marlia inventory is a "senrito di porcellana biattca rappre- scntanle delle vedute di Napoli, c ornato coil proftlo dorato c bleu". It is probably that assigned to Ammannati10. Objects belonging to the so-called sewizio a vedute are to be found in different private and public collec­ tions: among the most beautiful is the ice-pail in the Doccia porcelain museum (fig. 4). Figure 3. Cup in biscuit representing Carolina Murat, Queen of Although fascinated by local production, Elisa Naples, the interior gilded, Manifattura Poulard Prad, Napoli, Baciocchi was also especially interested in French c. 1810, 2'Ainches (6.7cm) high. Saucer: 5 inches (12.7 cm) porcelain, as the palaces inventories reveal. Apart diameter. Musco dellc Porcellane Palazzo Pitti. from Sevres, she was particularly keen on Dagoty services. At Marlia there was a large service of so- lists, among the porcellana ordinaria (the name given to called porcellana forestiera. This term mainly referred the porcelain from the Doccia factor)') a number of to French porcelain until, in 1983, Sheila Tabakoff biscuit statuettes'’. identified a beautiful Dagoty dessert service today Elisa preferred the Villa Marlia above all her shared between the Villa Petraia and Palazzo Pitti. It residences. The inventor)' made of the Villa’s is interesting to note that in the years when Florence contents in 1814, after she had left Tuscany, records was capital of Italy the ice-pails from this service different porcelain services, among which can be were brought to La Petraia and used as vases, identified three different kinds in particular: the although the plates were kept in the Pitti" where Neapolitan porcelain, probably acquired through her they were often used at official dinners. Any break­ sister, Carolina Murat, Queen of Naples, some ages were replaced by Doccia, whose decorators had French porcelain and the so-called porcellana ordinaria become so skilled as to be able to imitate perfectly acquired from Doccia7. any piece of porcelain from the royal collections. The influence of the Neapolitan manufactory on Among the French porcelain in the possession of Doccia production is evident if we compare two Elisa Baciocchi, there was also a Dagoty tele <) fete cups, one representing Carolina Murat and made in service, designed by the factory between 1804 and Naples circa 1810 by the Poulard Prad factory and 1814. Two cups from this service (fig. 5), still in the the other, made at Doccia, and bearing a portrait of Palazzo Pitti today, were replaced by Doccia12. In the ICF&S 2002 12 Figure 4. Ice-pail from the so-called Servito a vedute painted by Figure 5. Design for a biscuit service, Dagoty, 1810. Paris, Fcrdinando Ammannati and Giovanni Fancinllacci, Doccia, Musce des Arts Dccoratifs. Illustration taken from R. Plinval dc c. 1810-1815. 11 Vi inches (30 cm) high. Musco dellc Porccllanc Guillebon, 1995, p.318. The sendee is today in the Musco dellc di Doccia, Scsto Fiorentino. Porccllane, Palazzo Pitti. Figure 5a. Cup in biscuit, with gilded interior, Doccia, 1815- Doccia porcelain museum there is cup in biscuit 1820, 3'A inches (8.5 cm) high. Musco dcllc Porccllane di with a gilded interior, marked with the golden star Doccia, Scsto Fiorentino. typical of Doccia (fig. 5a) and a perfect copy of a Dagoty original. The technical and stylistic changes made due to the close links with France and, in particular, with Pouyat at Limoges, brought about a decisive change in the composition of the paste and in the decoration of Doccia porcelain. In 1803 the decision was made to mark all porcelain objects made with kaolin imported from Limoges with the letter F (fine) P.S (prinut scclta) and P.F. (porcellana sopraffme). In 1805, Pouyat sent Carlo Leopoldo Ginori Lisci a drawing for a new kind of oval-shaped oven, called a forno alia franccsc, which allowed for better temperature regulation. Opaque colours and matt gold were also introduced thanks to a French artist, Giovanni David, and the shapes of the tableware became closer to those fashionable in France1'. The beautiful gifts of Sevres given to Elisa by her brother Napoleon also had a strong influence on stylistic developments at Doccia. The most impor- 13 ICF&S 2002 Figure 6. Dessert sendee made for Elisa Baciocchi, Grand Figure 6a. Plate decorated with a view of Florence Cathedral in Duchess of Tuscany, Sevres, 1809- IS 10. Ice-pail: 13 inches polychrome; the dark blue border gilded with a frieze of eagles, (33.5 cm) high. IVine cooler: TA inches (IS.5 cm) high. Doccia, c. 1815-1820, 9 Ainches (24 cm) diameter. Plate: 9'A inches (23.4 cm) diameter. Mttsco delle Porcellane, Palazzo Pitti. tarn is probably the magnificent service with a pale- maintained close links with Alexandre Brogniart. In violet ground, today in the Palazzo Pitti, which was 1810 Ginori Lisci visited Sevres, a visit that made especially for her in 1809u and delivered to Brogniart returned in 1822. Frequent trips abroad her in Florence a year later. and the technical research carried out by Ginori Lisci In 1809, Elisa Baciocchi became Grand Duchess of to improve factory production, resulted in new kinds Tuscany, and this service must have been in of decoration for the tableware undertaken by the acknowledgment of her new position. If we French artists working at Doccia. In 1814 the painter compare the decoration on the border of the plates Giuseppe de Germain is recorded as specializing in with that on a series of plates decorated with views the use of opaque colours. To him can be attributed of Florence (fig. 6. 6a) we can see just how strong a series of beautiful cups, some of which were previ­ the influence of Sevres was on Doccia production.