Doccia porcelain, now usually called Richard-Ginori (or Ginori 1735; previously known as the Doccia porcelain manufactory), at Doccia, was one of the most prestigious European porcelain factories. It was founded in 1737 by Marquis Carlo Ginori in a villa he owned in Doccia, now part of Sesto Fiorentino, Florence. The descendants of Carlo Ginori continued to own and manage it until 1896, when it merged with the Richard Ceramic Society of Milan.
"The artistic development of the Doccia Manufactory is particularly complex and [...] a reflection of the different historical and cultural circumstances that unfolded in the history of Tuscany over approximately one hundred and fifty years, from the fall of the last Medici to the years of Florence as the Capital"..
The first period: Carlo Ginori The Ginori manufactory began operations in 1737 in Doccia, a locality a few kilometers from the ancient village of Sesto Fiorentino,Now incorporated into the northern area of the city. in a villa purchased by Marquis Carlo Ginori earlier that year from Senator Francesco Buondelmonti (1689–1774), adjacent to the ancestral family villa. In July 1737, the first batch came out of the factory's kilns. It was managed by the Roman kiln master Francesco Leonelli, who left Doccia between August and October 1738..
These initial results were the outcome of bold experiments conducted by the Marquis himself, a scholar of alchemical and chemical texts and a chemist in his own right. His chemical expertise was further enriched by a close friendship with Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, which, in the past, erroneously led to the assumption that the eminent Florentine naturalist served as an arcanist at the start of the Ginori manufactory's operations. However, archival documentation confirms that Carlo was "the sole and only arcanist". within the manufactory.
As evidence of his tireless research on porcelain, Carlo wrote a booklet titled Theory of Ingredients Suitable for Making Porcelain, in which he recorded factory experiments, personal concerns, expectations, chemical knowledge, and critiques of known chemical and alchemical texts.
Throughout his life, he personally oversaw the composition of mixtures, the sourcing of the finest clays—most notably those from the Tretto Valley near Vicenza and from Montecarlo—and the development of kilns, either through his direct presence or detailed reports, even managing operations remotely during frequent travels.
Initial attempts likely focused on maiolica and perhaps tentative efforts to produce porcelain, with the first documented porcelain production noted on 6 July 1739, when a payment was recorded "to the kiln workers of the porcelains". Joannon de Saint Laurent, a learned Lorrainer and close collaborator of Carlo and later Lorenzo Ginori,. attested that: "[...] the production of porcelain is the main objective of the enterprise, while maiolica is merely a secondary accessory discovered by the fortunate memory of Marquis Carlo to more successfully support the former"..
Thus, it is confirmed that porcelain experimentation was initially supported financially by the production and sale of maiolica, and the reference to the "fortunate memory" highlights the familiarity and attention to ceramics that Carlo developed in a family environment from a young age.
The earliest datable Doccia porcelains are from 1740: these are finely painted cups by the manufactory's chief painter, Johann Carl Wendelin Anreiter von Zirnfeld, who brought them to Vienna to present to the future Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francis Stephen of Lorraine, as first noted by Leonardo Ginori Lisci in 1963.. Anreiter's journey carried Carlo Ginori's hopes of obtaining "[...] the coveted privilege for porcelain production in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany", granted on 3 March 1741 by the president of the regency council, Marc de Beauvau, Prince of Craon..
Carlo Ginori persuaded the young Carl Anreiter. to join him in Florence in 1737 during a trip to Vienna to pay homage to the new Grand Duke of Tuscany. Anreiter was a painter of considerable talent, born in Schemnitz (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia) to parents from Bolzano, where he spent his childhood. After artistic studies, he moved to the Austrian capital, working as a salaried decorator at the Vienna porcelain du Paquier manufactory, later operating as an independent Hausmaler..
Anreiter was hired under a formal contract both as a painter and as head of the painters to "gild and paint with enamel on clays, porcelains, and other materials,Inventories list various subjects painted by Carl and Anton Anreiter, including: "The towing of cannons", "With battle scenes", "With oriental figures", "With street trade scenes", "With plants and snakes painted naturally" (the latter by Anton). and to teach everything he knows to those assigned by the aforementioned Count Ginori". He arrived in Florence with his wife and children, including Anton Anreiter, who became an excellent porcelain painter, first at Doccia and later in Vienna.The study of this artist is primarily due to Alessandro Biancalana in The Figure of a Second Johan Karl Anreiter, Son of Karl Wendelin, published in the journal Ceramica Antica, October 1999, and also "Johann Karl Wendelin Anreiter von Ziernfeld," in Der Schlern, 2000, no. 74.
Marquis Carlo Ginori, a prominent figure in the European political, scientific, and cultural landscape of the early 18th century, quickly surrounded himself with individuals who enabled the factory he founded to rival Europe's leading manufactories in stylistic and formal quality.
Notable among them: Gaspero Bruschi, a young sculptor and former student of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, appointed to lead the section "for the rooms of models and molds";. Johann Georg Deledori, also known as Giorgio delle Torri in recent studies, an Austrian who headed the kiln department;. Jacopo Fanciullacci, who initially assisted Deledori, later replacing him in the spring of 1743 when Deledori returned to Vienna,. and subsequently took charge of the "preparation of clays and glazes"; Nicholas Lhetournaus, a ceramist from Nevers, France, appointed to manage the maiolica manufactory "in his country house at Doccia", who died just a few months after arriving in Florence.
Marquis Carlo's vision to ensure artistic and productive continuity in the manufactory is evident in his persistent efforts to establish a school within the factory, where artists served as masters and the most capable and willing workers as apprentices, and in the fact that Carlo Ginori secured two spots for the most promising young talents at the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno..
The factory was established using almost exclusively the tenant farmers of the Doccia estate, who quickly became painters, turners, kiln workers, and paste manipulators with remarkable results.
Regarding the decorative styles used in the Ginori manufactory during the first period, Alessandro Biancalana notes the presence of non-exhaustive inventories from which to draw information about various decorative types. He considers that "The first of these lists is contained in the Inventory of Porcelains and Maiolicas Found on This Day, 25 October 1743, in the Warehouse in the Hands of Giuseppe Sarti"..
Over time, attempts have been made to codify these decorations, often encountering designs not traceable to any known object or document. To find a common thread in studying these decorations, several factors must be considered: actual tests, the presence of unique pieces, the genius and creativity of the finest painters, noble commissions, court orders, replacements made in the factory, and the lists compiled at the manufactory.
Among the most common decorations: the "printed" decoration, or "stencilled", strictly in white/blue, one of the first produced at the Doccia factory; the "rooster" decoration (in black/red/gold, blue/gold, and green) clearly of Asian origin; the "flower bouquets" decoration; the so-called "Saxon" (after Meissen) and "tulip" decorations, the latter two being modern terms not found in factory lists. These are among the most sought-after and, in some cases, result from a blend of Eastern-inspired styles and battle themes (for the latter, d’Agliano suggests a more autonomous interpretation by Carl Wendelin Anreiter) successfully experimented with at Meissen (e.g., the gold paintings of Johann Gregorius Höroldt) since 1723: the "red landscapes" decoration, "Chinese figures all in rich gold",This decorative theme, painted with Chinese characters and made with extensive use of gold, is described in ancient factory inventories. "Chinese palaces",These are characteristic Chinese buildings widely reproduced in Western paintings and prints of the 17th century and 18th century. "historiated bas-relief" decoration, and the rare "Turks" figures inspired by the tempera paintings of Jacopo Ligozzi,.. all typical from the earliest years. The most reliable sources for a scientific study of the decorations are undoubtedly those linked to production and sales lists compiled during various periods of the Ginori manufactory's history and those derived from epistolary exchanges.
It is in the field of sculpture, including religious works, that the Ginori factory distinguished itself most in its early years, producing bold large-scale plastic expressions led by chief modeler Gaspero Bruschi. Following Carlo Ginori's guidance, Bruschi drew inspiration from classical models, in continuity with the "[...] classicist cultural koiné of the Florentine artistic world, which, in some respects, anticipates the style of neoclassicism by a few decades, forming almost a bridge between Tuscan Baroque sculpture and the early signs of what would become neoclassicism." This was the main difference between the Doccia manufactory and other Italian manufactories in the first half of the 18th century.
A remarkable body of works includes the large groups created between approximately 1747 and 1755, primarily mythological and religious subjects, often derived from late Baroque Florentine sculptors such as Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, Giovan Battista Foggini, Giuseppe Piamontini, Girolamo Ticciati, and Agostino Cornacchini, from whom, directly or through their heirs, Carlo Ginori began purchasing models as early as 1737. Roman Baroque sculptors such as Bernini, Algardi, and Pierre Le Gros also served as sources, though to a lesser extent, for Doccia's sculptures.
In addition to the leading sculptors of the time, Carlo Ginori drew on bronze workers, plasterers, engravers, and carvers for both sculptural models and relief decorations, including Filippo Bosi, Orazio Filippini, the noted Florentine engraver Carlo Gregori, Andrea Scacciati, Gio Batta Ricchini, and Jacopo Bronzoli.. Beyond his beloved Florence, he sourced models from various cities, including Marseille, Lucca, Paris, and especially Rome, from where many models were sent starting from the manufactory's early years. Carlo Ginori ensured that his best modelers and plasterers, such as Filippo Della Valle, Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, and Francesco Lici, were sent to Rome to create copies for porcelain reproduction. This extensive work is evidenced by the vast correspondence between the Marquis and the Roman scholar and engraver Guido Bottari, whose connections in the Roman Curia were invaluable, as well as by the frequent and documented shipments of crates containing models from the Eternal City..
There is also detailed information about the significant, sometimes life-sized, models created from sculptures, including the famous Twilight by Michelangelo from the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence.