229 - LARGE DECORATIVE POLYCHROME PORCELAIN VASE, MANUFACTURED BY EREDI IMODA, TURIN, 1858

LARGE DECORATIVE POLYCHROME PORCELAIN VASE, MANUFACTURED BY EREDI IMODA, TURIN, 1858 with baluster shape, decorated in relief with groups inspired by literary subjects, resting on an original painted wooden column; minor flaws at the joints between sections, some wear to the gilding, a firing crack on the central body, a few minor restorations to the appliqués with slight imperfections, two friezes partially replaced with plaster The vase, height 83.5 cm, diameter 47 cm The column, height 105 cm A LARGE TURIN PORCELAIN VASE BY EREDI IMODA, 1858, WITH ITS ORIGINAL PAINTED WOODEN COLUMN; MINOR DEFECTS AT THE JOINTS, GILT SLIGHTLY WORN, A FIRING CRACK IN THE CENTRAL BODY, A FEW MINOR RESTORATIONS TO THE APPLIED DECORATIONS WITH MINOR DEFECTS, TWO Provenance: Carlo Imoda, Turin Franca Emma Pedrazzoli Imoda, Turin Private collection, Monza Bibliography: Descriptive Album of the Sixth National Exhibition, Royal Castle of Valentino, Turin 1858, p. 21 V. Brosio, 19th-Century Porcelain and Majolica in Turin and Milan, Milan 1972, plate VI and pp. 50 and 54 This vase is a rare surviving example of the most ambitious production of the Imoda factory, which was founded following the dissolution of the partnership between Carlo Imoda and the Richards in 1847 (who had previously been partners in the Turin-based Dortù factory). Doomed to an early closure, the factory presented this vase in 1858 at the Turin Exhibition held at the Valentino that year, accompanied by a counterpart—also “colossal”—which was unfired and undecorated. The groups and decorations, featuring various subjects and allegorical figures (Dante and Beatrice, perhaps Juliet and Romeo?), were fired separately and then attached with pins, while the vase itself consists of two sections. The neo-Gothic column-style pedestal that has always accompanied our porcelain was likely created on that same occasion. The vase is mentioned and illustrated in the catalog of the Valentino exhibition on page 21 and was first brought to the attention of scholars in 1972 by Valentino Brosio in his book dedicated to 19th-century ceramic manufacturers in Turin and Milan.