Jug with hunting scene

The first attempts to produce porcelain in Europe were made by the Medicis in Florence, who had a collection of over 400 Chinese items. Some porcelain items – extremely rare today – were made by the factory at Casino di San Marco, on Via Larga, which was set up by Francesco de’ Medici in the early 1670s and entrusted to expert majolica craftsmen from Faenza and Urbino. The decoration, mainly in monochrome cobalt blue, associates Oriental and Renaissance motifs, with scenes or grotesques, some of which were taken from engravings.