| Pulcinella, Neapolitan (Capodimonte) or Spanish (Real Fabrica de Buen Retiro), soft-paste porcelain, 1759-80, Giuseppe Gricci (ca. 1700-1770). Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is unclear whether this figure of Pulcinella was produced at Capodimonte in Italy or its successor factory at Buen Retiro in Spain. When Charles VII of Naples became Charles III of Spain in 1759, he moved the entire operation, including forty workers and five tons of raw material, from Capodimonte to the palace of Buen Retiro, outside of Madrid. The factory mark of a fleur-de-lis remained in use in the new location, and thus it is often difficult to distinguish wares and figures made in the last years at Capodimonte from the early products of Buen Retiro. Photo by New York Scugnizzo |
