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ITALIAN CERAMICS · PORCELAIN · COLLECTING
The Italian ceramics town behind porcelain at The Met and the British Museum, with ceramics workshops you can join
Porcelain made here since the eighteenth century is now held by major museums in New York and London, while Antonibon and Le Nove pieces still appear at Christie’s.
Nove, in the Vicenza area of northern Italy, became a ceramics centre in the eighteenth century. A ceramic factory was established in 1727, porcelain production followed around 1762, and pieces made here are now held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. The local story is still active through the ceramics museum, contemporary makers, workshops and an annual festival dedicated to clay, porcelain and ceramic design.
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Why did ceramics develop in Vicenza?
FROM THE MET TO THE WORKBENCH / CERAMIC WORKSHOPS ↓
North east of Vicenza, the small town of Nove has been making ceramics and porcelain for centuries. Nove had the raw materials and the water needed for ceramic production. Local deposits supplied clay, kaolin and silica, while the Brenta provided transport and hydraulic power for the mills used to prepare ceramic bodies and glazes. In 1728, the Senate of the Republic of Venice offered fiscal advantages to manufacturers capable of improving majolica or producing porcelain.
From Nove to The Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds several works from the Le Nove Porcelain Manufactory. One of the most interesting is a covered bowl and stand made around 1765. Its scrolling leaves, flowers and asymmetrical handles belong to the Rococo world, while its painted classical motifs already point towards Neoclassicism. The Met describes it as one of the more ambitious products from an important period in Nove porcelain.
Another Le Nove work at The Met, a porcelain pastoral group from around 1781 to 1790, belongs to the later Parolin period. The British Museum also records Le Nove cups and saucers in its collection, including eighteenth century porcelain and an early nineteenth century example painted by Giovanni Marcon.
The Christie’s piece with the dressed monkey
Christie’s catalogues contain numerous Antonibon and Le Nove works, from trays and porcelain figures to elaborate table pieces. One example is difficult to forget: a pastoral group made around 1781 to 1790 includes a bagpiper, a monkey dressed in clothes and scratching its back with a stick, a seated woman and children. Eighteenth century Italian porcelain could be theatrical, humorous and wonderfully strange.
FROM THE MET TO THE WORKBENCH / CERAMIC WORKSHOPS ↓
See the story where it was made
The Museo Civico della Ceramica follows local production from the eighteenth century to contemporary ceramics. The collection occupies three floors and includes works connected with the international ceramic competitions held in the twentieth century. Beyond the museum, Terrae Novae places contemporary ceramic works through the town as an urban ceramic park.
Make ceramics in Vicenza At the Ceramics Museum
The Museo Civico della Ceramica publishes practical clay workshops with two formats, clay modelling and sessions with local master ceramists. The current programme is designed mainly for educational groups, with a minimum of 15 participants, so independent visitors should contact the museum before planning a workshop.
The museum runs Crea con l’argilla (Create with Clay), a 90 minute hands on programme with two different workshop formats.
The Laboratorio di Manipolazione (Clay Modelling Workshop) includes Impronte e segni (Imprints and Marks), using clay to reproduce shapes and textures inspired by the river landscape, Scrittura su argilla (Writing on Clay), based on ancient writing on clay tablets, and Mattonelle e vasetti (Tiles and Small Pots), where participants shape and decorate their own ceramic pieces.
The second format, Laboratorio con i Maestri Ceramisti (Workshop with Master Ceramicists), brings participants together with ceramic masters and decorators from Nove to make and decorate a piece by hand. The finished work is fired after the workshop.
Good to know before you go
Museum workshops require advance booking and currently run mainly for organised groups, with a minimum of 15 participants. Sessions last about 90 minutes. Pieces made during the workshop are fired afterwards and collected at a later date, so independent visitors should contact the museum before travelling to ask about current workshop availability.