A Capodimonte Porcelain Turquoise-Blue-Ground Tea Canister and Cover, circa 1745-50

Luzzatto Collection, Milan, by 1960;

The Property of a Collector, Christie's London, 31 March 1980, lot 47;

Italian Private Collection;

Anonymous sale, Bonhams, London, 6 July, 2021, lot 141;

Where acquired by the present collector.

G. Morazzoni and S. Lévy, Le porcellane italiane, Vol. II. Milan, 1960, taf. 307b;

F. Stazzi, L'arte della ceramica: Capodimonte, Milan, 1972, p. 258, cat. no. 58.

A. Caròla-Perrotti, Le Porcellane dei Borbone di Napoli, Capodimonte e Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea 1743-1806, exhibition catalogue, Naples, 1986, cat. no. 84.e.

Giacomo Nani (1698-1755) was born in Porto Ercole and spent most of his career in Naples, where he developed a reputation for highly detailed still-life paintings featuring fish, shellfish, game birds, fruit, flowers, and hunting trophies. His works appealed to aristocratic and royal patrons and reflected the rich natural abundance associated with the Bourbon court in Naples. He also was employed by the Capodimonte porcelain factory as a decorator.

The vibrant ground colour of the present tea canister is exceptionally rare. A surviving waste bowl from the same service is reproduced in G. Morazzoni and S. Lévy, Le porcellane italiane, vol. II, Milan, 1960, col. pl. XXI.