Wine bottle cooler (one of a pair)

Doccia Porcelain Manufactory

ca. 1760–70 · Tin-glazed hard-paste porcelain · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Because the addition of tin to the glaze created an opaque, milky white surface, the Doccia factory began using a tin glaze in the 1760s to mask the gray color of its hard-paste porcelain body. A tin glaze was applied to these wine coolers (see also 1985.384.1), providing an effective background for the palette of strong colors that has been employed. The stylized floral decoration is reminiscent of that found on Japanese porcelains of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and this form of painting was known at Doccia as a tulipano, although the large central flower may depict a peony rather than a tulip. These wine coolers are notable not only for the quality of the painted decoration but also for their exaggerated Rococo form. With its undulating and asymmetrical rim, and the asymmetrical molded shell decoration, the design embodies the principal characteristics of the Rococo style.

Artist

Doccia Porcelain Manufactory

Date

ca. 1760–70

Medium

Tin-glazed hard-paste porcelain

Culture

Italian, Florence

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Nereo Fioratti, in memory of her mother, Ruth Costantino, 1985