Dish with stenciled decoration

Art Historical Context

This elegant dish, created around 1745 at the Doccia Porcelain Manufactory in Florence, represents one of Italy’s earliest successes in producing hard-paste porcelain. Founded by Marchese Carlo Ginori in 1735, the factory quickly became a center of innovation, allowing European artisans to rival the long-dominant Chinese and Japanese porcelain makers. The piece’s generous, slightly irregular form—roughly thirteen inches across—suggests it was intended as both a practical serving vessel and a display of technical mastery. The decoration employs cobalt blue painted beneath a transparent glaze, ...

About the Artist

Doccia Porcelain Manufactory|Marchese Carlo Ginori · 1737–1896

The Doccia Porcelain Manufactory, founded in 1737 by Marquis Carlo Ginori near Florence, holds the distinction of being Italy's first hard-paste porcelain manufacturer and one of the few European porcelain enterprises to survive from the eighteenth century to the present day without interruption. Unlike most contemporary ventures — which depended on the patronage and protection of ruling courts — ...