Since its foundation, the Doccia Manufactory specialized in the production of tableware and food utensils, made both in white porcelain and with polychrome decorations. Among these, the most notable are the handles for cutlery painted with blue stencil flowers, floral motifs in different colors, and chinoiserie figurines. The Ginori Museum collections preserve two specimens dating back to around 1750 (inv. 3898, 3899), which feature a shaped and molded form, decorated with small flowers in purple and red. Other types of floral decorations made in Doccia on porcelain handles are also known, more complex due to the greater number of corollas and stylized motifs along the handle.
The Manufactory also produced serving cutlery to be placed on the table. This is the case of the white porcelain olive ladle with a perforated terminal bowl, which allowed for easy draining of food preserved in brine (inv. 3734). Such utensils could also be embellished with the same decorations already used for the sets, as shown by the spoon with the typical rosebud motif produced in Doccia from the last quarter of the eighteenth century (inv. 689). This decoration, noted in the Manufactory’s registers in the 1780s as “painted with scattered rosebuds, profiles and red-purple serrated edge,” is also found on a table cruet holder, probably dating back to the Empire period (inv. 690). Composed of two separate pieces, the container features two cylindrical compartments for glass bottles containing oil and vinegar, and a handle shaped like a rod ending with a double-faced herm figure. The Ginori Museum holds many artifacts of this type, including a variant of the same model with simpler decoration and a female double-faced herm (inv. 654).
