TWO ‘IMARI’ CUPS AND SAUCERS WITH SILVER MOUNT

220.

TWO ‘IMARI’ CUPS AND SAUCERS WITH SILVER MOUNT
the cups and saucers Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century; the mount European, mid 18th century
the cups 7,3 cm high each, the saucers 13,8 cm diam each
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. nn. 3887, 3893.

The porcelain painted in underglaze blue and overglaze red and gold with floral motifs, the lower section of the cups enclosed by a silver mount in the shape of baroque leaves, the rim of the saucers underlined with a metal ring.

During the eighteenth century the fashion for Chinese and Japanese porcelain enriched with ormolu spread with deeper intensity in France, where gilt bronze was largely preferred.
Silver was used at this aim already from the sixteenth century, and it was still employed in the next centuries mainly outside France, as exemplified by the rich collection of ‘Imari‘ porcelain once belonged to the empress Maria Theresa of Augsburg (1717-1780) which presents silver mounts realized in Bruxelles, Wien, Amsterdam and London (P. Pantzer, Imari-Porzellan am Hofe der Kaiserin Maria Theresa, exhibition catalogue, Düsseldorf 2000).