About the Artwork
This unique monumental vase was made for Marchese Carlo Ginori at his villa in Doccia outside Florence; it has no practical function other than to convey the factory's artistic and technical virtuosity. Using Florentine sculptors' models in wax and terracotta originally intended for bronzes, the experimental Doccia factory produced ambitious groups on a large scale in an attempt to rival German Meissen porcelain. The vase represents Apollo driving his golden chariot across the sky at sunset. On the reverse, Galatea, the sea nymph, rides her dolphin on the waves while a Triton awards her a laurel wreath.
Apollo in his Chariot
between 1748 and 1750
Doccia Porcelain Factory (Manufacturer) Italian Massimiliano Soldani (Manufacturer) Italian, 1656-1740
Hard paste porcelain
Including base: 23 5/8 × 13 1/2 × 8 1/4 inches (60 × 34.3 × 21 cm)
Ceramics
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
1990.245
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
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Provenance
Prince Umberto of Savoy, King of Italy, Lisbon
Christie's 2 October, 1969 Sale, Geneva, Switzerland
purchased by Leonardo Lapicciarella, Florence
purchased from Armin B. Allen (dealer), London and New York.
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Highly Important Ormolu Mounted Porcelain Meissen, Capodimonte, French, German And Italian Porcelain. Sales cat., Christie, Manson & Woods, Geneva, October 2, 1969, lot 87.
Gli Ultimi Medici, Il Tardo Barocco A Firenze, 1670-1743. Exh. cat., Palazzo Pitti. Florence, 1974, p. 128, no. 84.
Darr, A.P. The Figure Revisited: Early Doccia Porcelain Sculptures in Detroit and its Development in 18th - Century Italy. London, 1994, pp. 14-15, fig. 14.
Darr, A.P. “Innovations during the twilight of Florence: eighteenth century sculpture in Doccia porcelain.” In Francesco Robba and the Venitian Sculpture of the Eighteenth Century, ed. J. Hofler. Ljubljana, 2000, pp. 101-102, 105, figs. 16, 17.
Darr, A. and T. Albainy, "Acquisitions of European sculpture and decorative arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1988 – 1999." The Burlington Magazine 142 (June 2000): 409, no. XIII (color ill.).
Darr, A. P., P. Barnet and A. Bostrom, et. al. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol II. London, 2002, cat. 154.
Winter, John. Le Statue del Marchese Ginori. Florence, 2003, fig. 24, p. 27.
Winter, John. "Doccia Porcelain at Ickworth." Amici di Doccia Quaderni, no. 2 (2008): 18-19, fig. 6.
Darr, Alan Phipps. "The Doccia Porcelain Sculpture Collection in the Detroit Institute of Arts." Amici di Doccia, Quaderni, no. 8 (2014-2015): 32–84, pp. 36–39 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Doccia Porcelain Factory; after a model by Massimiliano Soldani, Apollo in his Chariot, between 1748 and 1750, hard paste porcelain. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 1990.245.
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