THE COLLECTIONS

Creatures with sinuous bodies, long flowering stems, and female figures immersed in nature are the most recurring subjects in the Art Nouveau repertoire of the Manifattura Ginori.

At Doccia, modernism initially appeared in the “Botticelli style” decorations of artistic majolica inspired by the art of the English Pre-Raphaelites, but it was at the 1902 Decorative Arts Exhibition in Turin that the adherence to the new style became more evident. Irises, peacocks, and sirens shape vases and furnishings with a sculptural emphasis that often made the addition of colour unnecessary.

The nineteenth-century passion for Italian Renaissance art also manifests itself in ceramics with the revival of the famous sixteenth-century maiolica.

The leadership of the Manifattura Ginori in this field is due to its chemist Giusto Giusti, who was awarded a prize at the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition for being the first to rediscover the recipe for the legendary metallic lustre.

From that moment, the production of Ginori artistic maiolica rapidly evolved, moving from faithful imitations of past masterpieces to eclectic reinterpretations, the original contribution of artists such as the painters Giuseppe Benassai and Giovanni Muzzioli and the sculptor Urbano Lucchesi.

The taste for antiquity has distinguished Doccia's production from that of other European manufactories since the mid-eighteenth century, when Marquis Carlo Ginori decided to translate the ancient marbles of the main Florentine and Roman collections into porcelain. In addition to true-to-scale reproductions, sculptures in “white gold” were offered in the form of reductions intended to decorate consoles, fireplaces, and tables.

Particularly interesting, as they reveal the distinctive trait of the manufactory’s sculptural style, are the porcelain translations and reinterpretations of compositions by late Baroque Florentine sculptors such as Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, Giovan Battista Foggini, and Giuseppe Piamontini.

Among the most surprising collections of the Museo Ginori, a place of honor is deservedly given to its remarkable collection of sculptures and models in wax, lead, plaster, and terracotta created by the founder of the manufactory, Carlo Ginori, "for the use of the factory," to produce porcelain reproductions of ancient statuary and the works of the most important late Baroque Florentine bronze sculptors.

This collection of models, which also preserves the only evidence of some works that were lost or never realized, is a unicum in the field of eighteenth-century collector collecting.

“Useful” products, such as everyday tableware, have been the true source of profit for the Manifattura Ginori since its origins.

From the second half of the nineteenth century, with the proliferation of ceramic applications in the industrial field, a significant portion of Ginori’s - and later Richard-Ginori’s – production consisted of insulators for telegraphs, components for the silk industry, and laboratory porcelain.

Ultimately, it was street signs, tiles, baking dishes, and pharmacy jars that marked the definitive entry of the Manifattura Ginori into the daily life of all Italians.

Highly sought-after creations with an exotic taste, small sculptural groups made specifically to accompany desserts, services that have become true icons of an era and design prototypes: from the eighteenth century through the entire twentieth century, the Manifattura Ginori wrote some of the most significant chapters in the history of tableware art.

The extraordinary collection of table objects of the Museo Ginori tells us about both the creation of the shapes and decorations that identifed the style of the manufactory for centuries and the ability to rethink the form and function of objects to adapt them to the progressive changes in taste and the clients’ needs.

The years in which Richard-Ginori was directed by Gio Ponti were one of the most artistically successful periods in its history.

The ceramics he designed starting in 1923 constitute a very important part of the Museo Ginori collection. Comprising more than four hundred works, the Ponti collection includes both small mass-produced objects and masterpieces that have never been replicated, such as the large vase La Conversazione classica and the imposing centerpiece for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Irony, elegance, and a brilliant reinvention of the antiquity are some of the ingredients that made Ponti’s production an international success and an excellent example of Art Deco taste.