By Rafe Calder
The royal porcelain works at Capodimonte ran from 1743 to 1759. That is sixteen years. The name on shelves today covers a great deal more than that.
The founding
Wikipedia says the Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte was founded in 1743 in Naples by King Charles VII of Naples, later Charles III of Spain, and Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony, on the grounds of the Palace of Capodimonte. Britannica says Charles III founded it. L’Italo-Americano, a bilingual culture publication, says the king and queen set it up to rival Meissen. Three sources, one date.
What it was made of
All three describe soft-paste porcelain. L’Italo-Americano says the body did not use kaolin but a mix of clays from southern quarries. A dealer’s page by an art historian, Laura Morelli, which is promotional, credits brothers Livio and Gaetano Schepers with the recipe and says kaolin was scarce in southern Italy. Britannica says the paste is usually pure white, sometimes slightly tinted, with a lustrous glaze.
What it made
Britannica lists early wares: rococo snuffboxes, cane handles, soup tureens and tea services, sold at annual fairs. Giuseppe Gricci was chief modeller, it says, with J. S. Fischer and then Luigi Restile as chief painters. Decoration included battle scenes, seascapes, landscapes, figures and cupids in monochrome red, blue, violet or black, and commedia dell’arte characters in soft colours and gold.
The Porcelain Room
The best-known surviving object is a room. Britannica says it was made between 1757 and 1759 for the Villa Reale at Portici, and moved to the Palazzo of Capodimonte in 1805. L’Italo-Americano says it was first conceived for Portici between 1757 and 1759, designed by Gricci, with a stucco ceiling by Mattia Gasparini and wood carvings by Gennaro di Fiore, and gives its size as 6.75 by 4.8 by 5.13 metres. It says that in 1866 the porcelain cladding was dismantled and moved to the Royal Palace of Capodimonte. So we have 1805 in one source and 1866 in another.
After Charles left
When Charles became king of Spain in 1759, Wikipedia says, he took the equipment and about 40 key workers to Madrid, where they founded the Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro. L’Italo-Americano says the Naples works faltered until 1773, when his son Ferdinand IV founded the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea. Wikipedia and Britannica both put that founding at 1771, with production to 1806. The discrepancy is two years, and nobody explains it.
Wikipedia adds that the Doccia porcelain factory in Florence was the other main Italian porcelain works of the period.
The marks
This is where buyers go wrong. Wikipedia says the early mark is a blue fleur-de-lys, or a fleur-de-lys impressed in relief inside a circle, and the later Naples factory used a crown over a blue N. Britannica says the Bourbon fleur-de-lis was seldom used, and that Buen Retiro later used the same mark. L’Italo-Americano says pieces from the 1920s onward often carry the N and crown, and that the mark alone does not indicate royal origin. The dealer’s page repeats that point in nearly the same words. Our reading: a crowned N proves very little by itself.
A name that spread
Wikipedia says the Capodimonte name has been widely used on porcelain from other factories, and many cheap earthenware pieces carry it. It names copies made at Rudolstadt, and says Royal Worcester used “Capo di Monte” for figurine styles unrelated to the Neapolitan originals. Britannica says porcelain sold under the name continues to be made in Italy, around Naples and elsewhere, including figurines, heavily decorated vases, urns and chandeliers, often with realistic flowers.
How is it made now? L’Italo-Americano describes the general process: a gypsum model, liquid porcelain poured into moulds, firing at 1,250 degrees Celsius, hand-painting, then a second firing. The dealer’s page says many flower buds, leaves and figures were hand-modelled and attached, and names Casoria and Calvizzano, near Naples, as places where artisan families work. That is a promotional page, and we note it as such.
Dates in order
- 1743: factory founded, according to Wikipedia, Britannica and L’Italo-Americano.
- 1757 to 1759: the Porcelain Room made, according to Britannica.
- 1759: Charles leaves for Spain; Buen Retiro founded, according to Wikipedia.
- 1771 or 1773: Ferdinand’s factory, according to Wikipedia and Britannica or L’Italo-Americano.
- 1805 or 1866: the room’s move to Capodimonte, according to Britannica or L’Italo-Americano.
- 1806: the Ferdinand factory ends, according to Wikipedia and Britannica.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is a crown and N old? Not necessarily, say two sources. Is the name a guarantee of Naples? No, says Wikipedia, which lists copies made at Rudolstadt and a British firm’s use of “Capo di Monte” for unrelated figurines. Is the paste the same today? The sources describe a general modern process of moulds and two firings; none says it matches the eighteenth-century recipe. Our reading: ask where and when a piece was made, and treat the name as a style label until a maker or a date is shown.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia (open encyclopaedia), Britannica (encyclopaedia), L’Italo-Americano (a bilingual newspaper feature of January 2024) and a dealer’s page, which is promotional.
What we left out
Valuations and auction results, which are prices. Details of the later private factories. Anything about the Ginori company’s finances. A museum page we could not open.
Quick answers
When was the Capodimonte porcelain factory founded? In 1743, according to Wikipedia, Britannica and L’Italo-Americano. Britannica says it was dismantled and moved to Madrid in 1759.
Does a crown and N mark mean it is royal? No. According to L’Italo-Americano, pieces from the 1920s onward often carry it, and the mark alone does not indicate royal origin.
What is Capodimonte porcelain made of? Soft-paste porcelain, according to Wikipedia and Britannica. L’Italo-Americano adds that it used southern clays rather than kaolin.
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