Columbine Revives the Unconscious Pantalone

The porcelain factory, which opened in 1743 in the woods of Capodimonte, was set up by the king of Naples, Charles of Bourbon (1716-1788) and, quite probably, by his wife, Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, the granddaughter of Augustus II the Strong, founder of the Meissen factory. It was relatively short lived, because in 1759 the king ascended to the throne of Spain, and took the specialised workers and the models with him to start up the Buen Ritiro factory in Madrid. Capodimonte sculptural works were given particular impetus by the activity of the Florentine modeller Giuseppe Gricci, who made religious groups, amorous scenes and masks of the Commedia dell’Arte. The works are characterised by their use of soft-based porcelain, due to the lack of kaolin.