Dish - Porcelain - Ginori Docc deep plate

Manufacture: Ginori Doccia (Sesto Fiorentino, Italy). Era: End of the 18th century (Luigi XVI / Directory period, circa 1770-1790). Type: Deep plate / soup plate. Material: Fine-paste porcelain known as “masso bastardo” body. Dimensions: Diameter 24 cm; Height 3 cm. Weight: 303 g. Marks and initials on the reverse: An asymmetric six-pointed blue star mark under glaze; serial number “12” in red above glaze, traced by hand by the decorator. Aesthetic and stylistic characteristics: The plate features the famous shaped and irregular rim with a purple-toned final profile. The rim is embellished with a refined relief work reproducing the interwoven basket motif (Ozier or Old Ginori style). The painted decoration, executed entirely by hand in full color, depicts the classic “bouquet” motif (also known as the tulip decor). At the center of the cavetto stands a main floral bouquet in enamel, symmetrically surrounded on the rim by four smaller bouquets and scattered sprigs. The exceptional proportion between size and the weight of only 303 g constitutes a clear and precious testimony to the porcelain of the period. This structural lightness attests to the extraordinary technical skill of the factory’s turners in shaping minimal thicknesses. Condition: Excellent structural conservational state. The object is perfectly intact. Professional cross-section examination excludes the presence of hairlines, through cracks, chips, or opaque restorations, confirming the absolute integrity of both the paste and the painted decoration. The purple peripheral profile is in excellent condition and free of defects. Only very light and normal signs of historical wear from rubbing on the cavetto interior display are noted, fully consistent with the age and use of the period. There are tiny and original points of black firing, small craters (pinholes) and glaze excesses on the foot ring, typical technical defects linked to firing the “masso bastardo” paste in 18th-century wood-fired kilns, which attest to its authenticity.