18th Century Italian Doccia Porcelain Dinner Service

A dinner service comprising six dinner dishes and six soup dishes made by the Doccia Porcelain Manufactory, circa 1750.

Italy was the site of Europe’s first porcelain production: in Florence between 1575 and 1587 under the patronage of Francesco I de’ Medici. The Doccia Porcelain Manufactory, founded nearly 200 years later, continued the tradition of Italian porcelain with a hard-paste body that was later glazed with a tin glaze. This dinner set is decorated with the al tulipano motif, a design that is one of the most prevalent in Doccia wares. The central flower is not a tulip but an interpretation of the peonies used in the Chinese Famille Rose porcelain.

Dimensions:
– Soup dishes: 9 1/4 in. diameter x 1 1/2 in. height (23.1 cm diameter x 3.8 cm height)
– Dinner dishes: 9 1/4 in. diameter x 1 in. height (23.1 cm diameter x 2.4 cm height)

Condition: Excellent. Light wear to enamels throughout commensurate with age and use. Faint use marks visible on some dishes. One dinner plate with chip to underside of rim measuring 1 cm.

Note: 1 dinner dish and 2 soup dishes are not transparent, a characteristic of porcelain. These 3 dishes are porcelain with a tin glaze which makes them opaque and dates them to 1790-1800.