Fig. 119.—Vase. Cozzi period.
Height 17 in.
A beautiful example of this porcelain is represented in Fig. 118, a vase and cover of hard paste painted in lake camaïeu, heightened by gold, with a continuous landscape; the peculiar border, noticed above, with marks and interlaced bands, is shown on the cover; the edges, knob, and flutings are raised and plated with silver or platinum.
After the Vezzi manufactory had ceased to exist we have no documents to prove that any efforts were made to introduce the manufacture of porcelain into Venice until December 1757, when a petition was presented to the Venetian College by Frederick Hewelcke & Co., who stated that the sale introduced and directed by them in Dresden of Saxon porcelain had been carried on in a very flourishing manner, but that in consequence of the then existing war (the Seven Years’ War, which commenced in 1756), they had been obliged to abandon Saxony and to seek refuge in a foreign country.
On the 18th of March 1758, a decree granted to the Hewelckes the privileges they had requested. It seems that the undertaking proved eventually to be unfortunate, and at the termination of that war, which had brought them to Venice, they returned to their native country.
In 1765, the Senate granted to Giminiano Cozzi, in the Contrada di San Giobbe, Venice, protection and pecuniary assistance in carrying out a manufacture of porcelain. Cozzi’s first efforts were directed towards the imitation of the Oriental ware; and a very large trade was carried on by him for nearly fifty years. He produced statuettes in biscuit, in glazed white porcelain, and coloured groups, vases, &c. The gilding on Cozzi’s porcelain is especially fine, the pure gold of the sequin having been used in its decoration.
The manufactory ceased to exist in 1812.
Nove. The manufacture of porcelain at Nove may be traced back as far as the 12th January 1752, when Pasqual Antonibon brought from Dresden a certain Sigismund Fischer to construct a furnace for making porcelain in the Saxon style.
From this time forward he continued his experiments, and must have made great progress in the art, for in February 1761 he had three furnaces, of which one was for Saxon (ad uso di Sassonia), the other two for French porcelain (ad uso di Francia).