Notes:
Vezzi porcelain, produced in Venice from 1720-1727, was heavily influenced by Chinese and Japanese export porcelain, as well as European silverwork and the Meissen and Du Paquier factories. Chinese export porcelain, in turn, sometimes incorporated designs and motifs found on Vezzi wares, creating a fascinating interplay of influences.
The style and enamelling of this extremely rare piece are copied from the ceramics of the Italian Vezzi factory. The colouring and bold designs are distinctive and known on only a few services from this date, mainly for the Iberian market, some being known with Portuguese arms.
The Vezzi factory was set up in Venice in 1720 by the goldsmiths Franceso and Guiseppe Vezzi, enterprising businessmen and early practioners of the art of industrial espionage. Francesco had visited Vienna in 1719 and very likely made contact with Christophe Conrad Hunger an assistant in the Viennese porcelain workshops of Claude du Paquier. In 1721 Hunger moved to Venice and assisted the Vezzi brothers with their enterprise, using kaolin smuggled from Aue in Germany.
The Vezzi production of porcelain only lasted until 1727, with less than two hundred pieces surviving, mostly teapots, many with chinoiserie designs. As well as techniques for the manufacture of hard-paste porcelain Hunger’s defection also meant that the decorative style of Vezzi porcelains (and also this piece) was strongly influenced by the patterns of Du Paquier. They also appear to be influenced by the strap work designs of Jean Berain and the post-renaissance decorative friezes found on much Venetian furniture and frescoes.
