The Most Remarkable Porcelain in Italy

The Italians attempted many times to imitate the Chinese porcelain but resulting in only white glass. The first factory in Italy was started in 1720 by Francesco Vezzi, which made hard-paste porcelain varying in colour from white. Some of the rulers patronage the making of the porcelain wares. Italy  Florence During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries much experimental work was carried on in attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain, which had been brought to Europe by then. Documents record that some of the Venetian glassmakers were making trials, but it is believed that they resulted in only a white glass. By 1575 a method of making soft-paste porcelain had been found in Florence, under the patronage of Francesco Maria de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and this is known in consequence as 'Medici Porcelain'. Of the pieces made between the years 1575 and 1587, when the works apparently closed, it has been calculated that fifty-nine survive. Of these, forty-one are now in museums, four are in private possession and fourteen have disappeared over the years. A plate that had been lost, was rediscovered and sold in London in 1949 for £1,100. Almost all the surviving located Medici porcelain is painted in under glaze blue, and occasionally with additional outlining in dark purple. The mark is usually a large-scale drawing in blue of the dome of Sta. Their venture began in 1758, but lasted for only five years. The most successful Venice factory was that directed by Geminiano Cozzi, a banker, who opened it in 1764. At Le Nove, near Bassano, about twenty-five miles northwest of Venice a factory was opened in 1752 by Pasquale Antonibon, who already made majolica there. The wares produced were of all kinds and the paste resembled closely that of Cozzi's factory; grey in colour 'with a wet-looking glaze that develops a brownish tone where it lies thick'. The cities of Florence and Venice were some of the important places where the porcelain making were learned to have taken place with may discoveries of the wares in different parts of this cities. The first factory opened in 1720 by Francesco Vezzi in Venice, two dealers in Dresden china, Maria and Nathaniel Hewelcke opened the next factory in 1758.    Related content: