Page 17 - Met Museum Export Porcelain 2003

Factoryof the Metal Pot for Wenzel Ferdinand, I6. Dish. Chinese (Italian market), ca. 1698. Hard paste. Diam. I35/8 in.
Prince Lobkowicz.Fromabout that time (34.6 cm). Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Purchase,Winfield
Foundation Gift, 1962 (62.188)
armorialexport porcelains were made for
Dutchfamilies associated with the trade in Thedensefoliatescrollsof theborderarecommonto Portuguese-marketporcelains
of aboutI700, and this dish is said to have beenshippedfromGoato Lisbonin 1699.
Bataviaand elsewhere. These were blue and Thearms,however,arethoseof the Ginorisof Florence.Severalmembersof the
family wereactive in Lisbonin thelateseventeenthand earlyeighteenthcenturies,
white, although the blazoning of a coat of and thesurvival ofpiecesin thefamily todayconfirmstheirprovenance;otherwise,
arms requires observance of a rigorous and theheraldry-being bothunexceptionaal nd in blueand white-would be diffcult
inflexible system of which color is an essen- to identify.
tial component. Inits absence there are sev-
eral ways of blazoning an armorialaccurately. Theinheritanceof Chineseblueand white andfamiliarity with Florentine
One is by means of a code of directional lines Mediciporcelains(ca.i575-87) easilyaccountforthe experimentalblueand white
and dots representing the tinctures and metals productionin thei74os at theDocciafactory,establishedoutsideFlorencein 1737
of the shield, familiarfrom eighteenth-century by CarloGinori.
bookplates. Another is through heraldic lan-
guage (fig. 15). Butcoats of arms in shades
of blue become either barely intelligible or

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