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Inscription

beneath foot: a dome and .F.

Marks and Labels

Formerly a Pierpont Morgan inventory number painted on underside: PM 3134

Provenance

Casamorata collection, Le Macine, Florence.[1] (Giuseppe Pacini, Florence).[2] (Stanislas Baron [d. 1910], Paris), by 1882.[3] Ambroise Milet [1829-1916], Sevres, by 1893.[4] Alfred André [1839-1919], Paris; his son, Léon Alexandre André [1873-1954], Paris;[5] purchased 1905 by J. Pierpont Morgan [1837-1913], London and New York;[6] his estate; (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 16 October 1917 by Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[7] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, after purchase by funds of the Estate; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] The provenance given here is an updated version of the one published in the 1993 NGA systematic catalogue, which originally listed the first owner as "Casa Murata," Florence, based on Jean Charles Davillier, Les origines de la porcelaine en Europe, Paris and London, 1882: 116-117, no. 32, in which it is noted: "Despite the generous efforts of Professor Marco Spallanzani in Florence libraries, no information on the 'Casa Murata' has been traced." However, Alessandro Alinari, La Porcellana dei Medici: Bibliografia ragionata e catalogo essenziale, Ferrara, 2009: 76, no. 27, notes that Davillier's "Casa Murata" was probably the Casamorata family, whose villa in Florence, owned by the Medici family in the 16th century, is located in the street which still bears the family's name. See also Alinari's letter of 1 April 1994 to Timothy Wilson, copy in NGA curatorial files.

[2] The dealer who Davillier identifies only as "Pacini" was Giuseppe Pacini, who was active in the late 19th century dealing primarily in antiquities.

[3] Davilier 1882: 116-117, no. 32.

[4] Georges Vogt, La Porcelaine, Paris, 1893: 83 fig. 30, identifies the NGA flask as with the "Collection Milet." Milet was a potter and eventually director of the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory, and was also a friend and collaborator of Davillier. He had a collection of porcelain and other works of art.

[5] Alfred André was a goldsmith, enamelist, and restorer of Medieval and Renaissance objets d'art, who studied and reactivated old enameling methods. He had workshops for various decorative arts techniques in a wing of his Paris home, working with other goldsmiths, hardstone carvers and ceramists. André transferred half of the business to his son Léon in 1905, after the latter's marriage. This is likely how Léon acquired the flask, and sold it to Morgan the same year. Léon André took complete control of the shop in 1907.

[6] Linda Horvitz Roth provided the details of the 1905 sale invoice to Pierpont Morgan, which is in the archives of The Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

[7] A statement of numerous sales on various dates to Joseph Widener, dated 23 November 1917, is in the Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: box 523, folder 6, reel 378; the flask is described as "A Biberon of Medici Porcelain." Edith Standen, in Widener collection records (copies in NGA curatorial files), gives the November date of the statement as the purchase date for the flask. A note in NGA curatorial files states that the flask was found unrecognized among Pierpont Morgan's blue and white Chinese porcelain at Duveen's by Joseph Widener and acquired at low cost. Edith Standen, who was curator at Lynnewood Hall before the Widener collection was given to the National Gallery and has kindly responded to inquiries about the history of the collection, was unable to confirm this story. It must be regarded as improbable that Duveen's would have failed to recognize a marked piece of Medici porcelain, but it is true that Widener paid a surprisingly low price for the flask.

Exhibition History

1914
Possibly Loan Exhibiton of the Pierpont Morgan Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1914.
1980
Palazzo Vecchio: comittenza e collezionismo medicei, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1980, no. T, repro. 403.
1998
A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, not in cat.
2002
Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence (in Italy, L'ombra del genio: Michelangelo e l'arte Firenze, 1537-1631), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; Art Inst. of Chicago; Detroit Inst. of Arts, 2002-2003, no. 102.
2018
Islamic Art and Florence from the Medici to the 20th century, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2018.

Technical Summary

The flask is of imitation porcelain, of a type usually classified as soft paste, which is somewhat translucent and looks pinkish when light is shone through it. The flask is covered inside and out, except beneath the foot ring, with a transparent glaze of slightly "orange-peel" texture with numerous small bubbles in it. There is more severe bubbling within and around the foot ring and around the neck. The painting is in underglaze blue, with the design drawn in purplish blue black. There is some cracking of the glaze and some abrasion, with minor repairs, at the end of the spout.[1]

[1] Professor David Kingery and Dr. Pamela Vandiver stated on examining this flask that it was thrown on the wheel, unlike most pieces, which they say are mold made.

Bibliography

1882
Davillier, Jean Charles. Les origines de la porcelaine en Europe. Paris and London, 1882: 116-117, no. 32, repro.
1893
Vogt, Georges. La Porcelaine. Paris, 1893: 83 fig. 30.
1908
Ricci, Seymour de. "La porcelaine des Medicis." Faenza (1908-1918): 31, no. 41.
1914
Grollier, Charles de. Manuel de l'amateur de porcelaines. 2 vols. Paris, 1914: 1:364, no. 2314.
1914
Possibly Loan Exhibition of the Pierpont Morgan Collection. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1914.
1935
Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 69.
1936
Liverani, Giuseppe. Catalogo delle porcellane dei Medici. Piccola Biblioteca del Museo delle Ceramiche in Faenza, 2. Faenza, 1936: 37, no. 52.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 14, as Medici Ware, Small ewer.
1959
Liverani, Giuseppe. "Ampliamenti al catalogo delle porcellane medicee." Faenza 45 (1959): 10.
1980
Palazzo Vecchio: comittenza e collezionismo medicei. Exh. cat. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1980: 403.
1983
Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 174, repro.
1986
Cora, Galeazzo, and Angiolo Fanfani. La porcellana dei Medici. Milan, 1986: 86-87, repro.
1988
Le Corbeiller, Clare. "A Medici Porcelain Pilgrim Flask." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 16 (1988): 125, fig. 9, as c. 1582-1585.
1990
Spallanzani, Marco. "Medici porcelain in the collection of the last grand-duke." The Burlington Magazine 132 (1990): 316-320.
1993
Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 238-241, color repro. 239.
2000
National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000:62.
2009
Alinari, Alessandro. La Porcellana dei Medici: Bibliografia ragionata e catalogo essenziale. Ferrara, 2009: 76, repro.
2019
Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York, 2019: 236, 237 fig. 88, 278 n. 881.

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