{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O334157"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O334157/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HA2825/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HA2825/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HA2825","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA2828","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA2829","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA2830","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT4227","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU9878","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O334157/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O334157","accessionNumber":"C.38-1943","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The fashion for porcelain in the mid eighteenth century became almost an obsession with some European rulers.  Charles III, (1716–88), who was King of Spain (1759–88) and of Naples and Sicily (1735–59), established the Capodimonte porcelain factory in the city of Naples in 1743, to produce porcelain solely for his own use.  The King was married to  Maria Amalia of Saxony, daughter of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Augustus the Strong was the owner of the premier porcelain factory in Europe, Meissen, and this may have further fuelled Charles's interest in porcelain.\n\nThe early products of the Capodimonte factory were strongly influenced by Meissen, although they soon developed a wide range of shapes and subject matter, painted in a very fine stipple technique characteristic of Capodimonte.  This vase is in fact a Meissen shape, based on a Chinese original, and the decoration has been copied from a print of a Biblical scene depicting  the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon in his tent.  The historical subject matter with large figures is very unusual for the factory, and would seem to link it to the long tradition of <i>istoriato</i> painting on maiolica, still being carried out at the potteries in Castelli at this time. It was possibly decorated by a painter who came from there.\n\nThe Capodimonte factory only existed for a short time as when Charles became the King of Spain in 1759 it closed.  The King left Italy with his court to take up residence in Madrid and likewise his personal porcelain factory was relocated to Spain and re-established just  outside the capital at Buen Retiro.","physicalDescription":"Vase of soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels. Inverted pear-shaped with a flat shoulder and short cylindrical neck. Painted with a scene of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon in a tent. Attended by musicians, soldiers and camels. Ruins and mountains in background.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Capodimonte porcelain factory","id":"A25270"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2014HA2825","2014HA2828","2014HA2829","2014HA2830","2006AT4227","2017JU9878"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"3","id":"THES263060"},"free":"","case":"CA15","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Vase","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Capo di Monte","id":"x35323"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1750","earliest":"1745-01-01","latest":"1754-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the Murray Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"365","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-26","latest":"2012-09-26"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"310","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"26.09.12","earliest":"2012-09-26","latest":"2012-09-26"},"part":"widest point","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"A fleur-de-lys","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In underglaze blue"}],"objectHistory":"Mottola Molfino (see below) suggests in her caption that this vase dates to ca. 1745.  She highlights how far removed the decoration is from the Meissen-inspired schemes of much of the factory's products and that the vase has clearly been decorated in the Italian maiolica tradition of<i> istoriato</i> painting still in use at the nearby centre of Castelli in Abruzzo.  Items decorated <i>a figure grandi, a istoriati coloriti</i> feature in the records from 1744.  The slightly asymetrical form of this vase, the experimental paste and the muted palette, all suggest that it is a very early example of the factory's work. Two painters were recorded as having painted <i>figuri grandi</i> in this early period: Giuseppe Della Torre in 1744, and in 1745 Carlo Coccorese, the latter being also known at Castelli.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Vase of soft-paste porcelain, Capodimonte porcelain factory, Capo di Monte, ca. 1750.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caròla-Perrotti, Angela, Curator.  <i><u>Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743-1806</u></i>, exhibition at the Museo Archeologogico Nazionale, Naples, December 1986-April 1987, illustrated p. 28g, with a print after the Venetian painter, Piazzetta's <i>Gerusalemme Liberata</i> that depicts the same subject, p. 29h.  Decoration '<i>a figure grandi</i>' is discussed in the introduction to chapter I.4, pp. 99-100.  See p. 100 where this vase is cited, together with a plate with a related subject 'Il Sacrificio di Salomone' recorded in a Milanese private collection.  Other items with large figure decoration have diverse subjects: allegorical, Watteauesque, pastoral or <i>galenteri</i><i>es</i>, or ones derived from prints after Berchem.  Caròla-Perrotti suggests  the whole group may be of late date, including C.38-1943, partly on account of the perceived link with Piazzetta."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mottola Molfino, Alessandra,<i> <u>L'Arte della Porcellana in Italia, Il Piemonte, Roma e Napoli</u></i><u>,</u> Bramante Editrice, 1977.  Illustrated no. 136."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Solomon and the Queen of Sheba","id":"N4513"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"tent","id":"AAT5694"},{"text":"king","id":"AAT25481"},{"text":"queen","id":"AAT25483"},{"text":"musicians","id":"AAT25666"},{"text":"camels","id":"x30284"},{"text":"soldiers","id":"AAT185678"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Vase with the Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon\r\nAbout 1745\n\nThe Capodimonte factory was established by Charles VII, King of Naples, in 1743. It was initially intended to produce porcelain only for the royal household. Charles’s interest in porcelain may have been fuelled by admiration for the Meissen factory founded by his father-in-law, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. This vase copies a Meissen shape.\n\nItaly (Naples)\r\nMade at the Capodimonte porcelain factory\r\nPorcelain painted in enamels and gilded\r\nPurchased with funds from the Captain H.B. Murray Bequest","date":{"text":"09/12/2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}},{"text":"VASE\r\nPorcelain\r\nMark: a fleur-de-lys, in underglaze blue\r\nThe visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon\r\nITALY (CAPODIMONTE); about 1750\r\nBought with funds from the Captain H. B. Murray Bequest\r\nC.38-1943\r\n(Label draft attributed to John V. G. Mallet, ca. 1995)","date":{"text":"ca. 1995","earliest":"1990-01-01","latest":"1999-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["C.38-1943"],"accessionNumberNum":"38","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1943,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU1805"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":false}}