Fig. 117.—Écuelle.
Fig. 117, an écuelle, is ornamented in gold, with initials and the Royal Arms.
Venice. Porcelain of soft paste was made here probably about 1720.
The “Casa eccellentissima Vezzi” was founded by Francesco Vezzi, a goldsmith of Venice. He invested the sum of 30,000 ducats in a porcelain company, amongst whose shareholders were Luca Mantovani and others. The site of the Vezzi manufactory of porcelain was at S. Nicolo in Venice. How long after Vezzi’s death it was carried on does not appear, but judging from the statements made to the Senate in 1765, it did not long survive him, and the secret of his process for making porcelain had evidently not been disclosed.
Materials for making porcelain were to be obtained in the Venetian dominions, but not such as to produce the hard or Oriental porcelain; they were therefore procured from Saxony, as were probably also some of the workmen, which will account for the fact that the “Casa eccellentissima Vezzi” produced both hard and soft paste.
The pieces made at the Vezzi manufactory are painted with masquerades, grotesque Chinese figures and decorations in relief, flowers, birds, arabesques, and geometrical patterns and colours, statuettes, &c., especially in the Venetian red which pervades all the decorations, the handles, borders, and mouldings being sometimes covered with silver or platinum, producing the effect of oxidised metal mountings. Another striking peculiarity in the decoration of porcelain of this period is a border of black or coloured diaper work formed by crossed lines, having in the interstices small gilt points or crosses bordered by scrolls. These specimens are mostly of hard paste in the form of bowls, plates, tureens, &c.
Fig. 118.—Vase and Cover.