Trois rares assiettes napolitaines, Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, du service Farnese, circa 1784-88

Three rare Naples, Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, plates from the Farnese service, circa 1784-88

Each painted in the centre with a circular view titled in iron-red on the reverse, within a gilt foliate border, the rim with four oval cameo medallions inscribed 'MVSEO FARNESIANO' within gilt laurel wreaths against a green ribbon entwined with gilt foliage, gilt-edged rim, 25.6cm diam., crowned FRF monograms in iron-red, incised marks (minor scratches) (3)
Footnotes:
Provenance
Giuseppe Beccadelli, Marchese di Sambuca (1726-1813);
Private European Collection since the 1980s, thence by descent to the present owner

Literature
A. Caròla-Perrotti, La Porcellana Della Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea (1771-1806), Naples, 1978, TAV. XXXII-XXXV;
A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane Dei Borbone Di Napoli, Capodimonte E Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743-1806, Naples, 1986, pp. 376-380;
A. Caròla-Perrotti, 'The Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea (1771-1806)', Andreina d'Agliano (ed.), Italian porcelain in the Lokar collection, Milan, 2013, pp. 239-246;
Acton, I Borboni di Napoli, 1734-1825, Florence, 1997, pp. 195-196, 202, 210, 217-224

The views titled in red on the reverse are:
Veduta del Golfo di Mare Piano, preso Napoli
Veduta egteriore della Chiesa de Cappuccini a Siponto
Veduta del Vesuvio presa dalla parte di Maropia no presso Pozzuoli

Recent research by Angela Caròla-Perrotti has shown that the service was owned by Giuseppe Beccadelli, Marchese di Sambuca, Ambassador in Vienna for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Minister of State between 1776 and 1786.

A pair of glass coolers and a pair of baskets from the service were sold at Bonhams London from the Fiordalisi Collection, 7 December 2017, lots 100 and 101. A plate from the same collection also sold lot 102.

When the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea factory opened in 1771-72 after the closure of the factory at Capodimonte, the young King Ferdinand IV of Naples was in his early twenties and had a blossoming enthusiasm for porcelain production, a view which had been discouraged by the statesman Bernardo Tanucci, who had overseen the Regency council of the King in his youth. In the following years, and with the encouragement of Giuseppe Beccadelli, Principe di Camporeale (1726-1813), the diplomat and newly appointed Primo Segretari di Stato from 1776, the King took an increasing interest in the factory. In 1779 the Marchese Domenico Venuti (1745-1817) was appointed as Direttore Interino of the factory, a role that would combine administrative duties and artistic direction.

The 'Servizio Farnesiano', or 'Farnese service', was the first to be produced at the factory featuring landscape after the famous five-volume publication of the 'Illustrations de Voyages pittoresques de Naples et de Sicile' of 1781 to 1786, by Abbé de Saint Non.

Jean-Claude Richard, Abbe de Saint Non (1727-91) travelled to Rome in 1759 to study art and architecture, and it is here that he met Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert who were to contribute drawings to the Voyages pittoresque. In the following year he travelled on to Naples and the surrounding archaeological sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum.

As most of the Factory documents referring to the service are lost, the identity of the patron who commissioned the service was unknown until it was discovered in recent research carried out by Angela Caròla-Perrotti, which she presented in the lecture 'The Farnese Service and the Neapolitan 'Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea': a secret revealed', at Art Antiques London, 16 June 2012.

Overall the group of plates is in very good condition with minimal scattered wear to the enamel colours and gilding overall, not distracting from the overall appearance.

Golfo di Mare Prano:
2 small spots of wear to the very edge of rim (affecting the gilding and the tin-glazed surface), each measuring 0.2x0.1 and 0.1x0.1 cm. There are a few scattered tiny surface scratches or scuffs to the landscape medallion.

Cappucini:
There is a very fine tight original glaze crack caused at manufacture and typical to this heavy tin glazed material in the well around the central medallion, and a similar one on the reverse slightly further out.

Veduta del Vesuvio:
There are some tiny specks of wear to the gilt border around the edge of the well.