Enfilade

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From Ca’ Rezzonico:

Porcelain from the Collection of Marino Nani Mocenigo
Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice, 14 June — 30 November 2014

Curated by Marcella Ansaldi and Alberto Craievich

In 1936, Nino Barbantini presented an exhibition at Ca’ Rezzonico dedicated to the porcelain of Venice and Nove to document an aspect that of 18th-century Venetian Art that had hitherto been largely overlooked. The works displayed came above all from Venice’s civic collections and from museums and private collections throughout Italy. The most generous lender however, was a Venetian, Conte Marino Nani Mocenigo, an emblematic collector who had dedicated his existence to forming a collection of porcelain. Such was his obsession that he was given the affectionate nickname of ‘Conte Cicara’ (‘Count Cup’) by his fellow citizens. Following his death, his wife decided to form a memorial to the husband by making accessible the collection he had formed with such passion. The objects were put on display at Ca’ del Duca, a tiny but excellent museum developed, but which it has been impossible to visit for a long time.

On this occasion, by request of the family, the porcelain collection of Marino Nani Mocenigo will be displayed in the rooms of Ca’ Rezzonico. The exhibition will present 338 pieces produced by the most important manufactures of Europe, with a predominant focus on about 100 Venetian articles—including some splendid examples by Vezzi, two very rare coffee-pots by Hewelcke, almost all the figural groups made by Pasquale Antonibon at Nove and Geminiano Cozzi in Venice—constituting the most conspicuous and important part of the exhibition. Perhaps the most famous work in the collection is a delightful Geographer by Geminiano Cozzi.

Visitors can also admire some of the most famous works to have been produced by the Meissen factory, modelled by Johann Joachim Kändler and by Peter Reinicke, such as The Polish Kiss, The Chinese Girl, and The Hunter, together with some astonishing dinner services, also from Meissen, dating from the early 18th century: one of these with gold decorations and another in white porcelain with still lifes of fruit.

The exhibition will also display examples of fine porcelain production from other German-speaking centres: a rare part of a Chinoiserie dinner service made in Vienna by Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier and articles from Ludwigsburg, Frankenthal, Höchst, and Berlin. The exhibition closes with a large selection of cups and saucers by the imperial manufacture of Vienna dating from the Sorgenthal period (1784–1805), all characterised by an astonishing use of colour and bold combination of ornamental motifs.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Scripta Editore – Verona, and produced thanks to a contribution from the Venice International Foundation.

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From Scripta Editore:

Marcella Ansaldi and Alberto Craievich, Le Porcellane di Marino Nani Mocenigo (Verona: Scripta Editore, 2014), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-8898877010, €35.

All’inizio del Settecento Cina e Giappone detenevano il segreto della produzione della porcellana, sancendo un monopolio di fatto del loro commercio verso l’Europa. Al commercio di oggetti di porcellana, con il consumo di tè e caffè che andava sempre più sviluppandosi in tutto l’Occidente, si sviluppò parallelamente la richiesta di vasellame, tazze, tazzine, diventando un interesse economico sempre maggiore negli scambi economici dell’epoca.

In tutta Europa si cercò sin dal tardo Cinquecento di scoprire il segreto della produzione della porcellana, il cosiddetto ‘arcano’. E i primi a riuscirci nel 1710 furono i sassoni di Meissen che grazie, anche alla padronanza del complesso processo produttivo, crearono la prima manifattura funzionante. Avendo rotto il monopolio orientale, i sassoni si tennero stretto il segreto facendo nascere una prospera industria che esportò la sua porcellana in tutta Europa.