A rare Vezzi teapot and cover, circa 1725

Footnotes

The shape of this rare pot appears unrecorded, although it bears resemblance in the fluting around the side gadrooning around the footrim and the scale pattern on cover and shoulder, to a teapot in the collection of Dr Giovanni Lokar (as published by Andreina d'Agliano, Porcellane Italiane dalla Collezione Lokar (2013) cat. no 13.).

The incised Cf mark under the base of the pot and inside the cover is consistent with other Vezzi pieces, for example a teapot most recently sold at Christie's, 25 April 2017, lot 84, and a teapot in the Victoria and Albert Museum (C.121&A-1930).

The Vezzi factory in Venice was the third factory in Europe (after Meissen and du Paquier) to produce a hard-paste porcelain. The factory was founded by Giovanni Vezzi (1686-1746), a nobleman, whose father Franceso Vezzi, provided funding to build a porcelain manufactory. It is a story of industrial espionage which was discussed by Francesco Stazzi, Porcellane della Casa Eccelentissima Vezzi (1967) in great detail, and was most recently revisited and supplemented by Luca Melegati (op.cit in A. d'Agliano (2013) p. 19). Production began in 1720 after Vezzi was able to secure the knowledge and experience of some foreign arcanists, mostly from the du Paquier manufactory in Vienna, to come to Venice to assist him in setting up the workshop. These included Christoph Conrad Hunger from du Paquier, who is listed in 1720 as a partner in the new factory, but who broke off his association with the Giovanni Vezzi in 1724 and left Venice in 1727. Although never commercially viable like the other famous Veneto factory founded some decades later by Geminiano Cozzi, Vezzi did manage to produce a remarkable range of wares using clay from the Veneto region. These are notable for their unique and individual baroque shapes, often combined with polychrome colours and gilding. In 1727 the factory was forced to close due to financial difficulties, and the production spanned less than a decade.