Rococo Ceramic Figurine of Monkey Player by Geminiano Cozzi, Italy, Late 1700s

Details

Description

Beautiful, rare, white enameled earthenware sculpture, depicting a monkey musician, specifically an orchestra conductor with a baton and eighteenth-century clothes. … Read more Beautiful, rare, white enameled earthenware sculpture, depicting a monkey musician, specifically an orchestra conductor with a baton and eighteenth-century clothes. Under the very rough base, an old stamp from an auction in which the object probably participated, from the patina of the paper I assume it is an auction from 1930 - 1940, and there is also the red anchor, from the Venetian ceramics of the Cozzi family. The sculpture can be dated towards the end of 1700, XVIII century. Our attribution was confirmed by the Catawiki expert (see last photo), where our sculpture was estimated at €300-400, and everyone knows that Catawiki is very strict in its evaluations, to attract a greater number of aspiring buyers and focus on increases at auction

Final considerations on the object:
The object is very, very old, which is easily deduced from the type of material, enameled earthenware, extremely light, impoverished of the water contained in the earthenware by the passage of time, and from the type of enameling and glazing. The ancient patina is beautiful and very evident and the rococo style is absolutely that of the sculptures of the 1700s. Obviously the Venetian artist was inspired by the famous monkey musicians made by the German Meissen factory in the first half of the 18th century.

Information on the artist and/or factory:
Geminiano Cozzi (Modena, 7 February 1728 – 1798) was an Italian entrepreneur and ceramist, born in Modena, but became Venetian by choice. He moved to Venice around 1754, a skilled ceramist, he became a partner in the factory of the Saxon spouses Nathaniel Friedrich and Maria Dorothea Hewelcke which closed its doors in 1763. In 1764 Geminiano Cozzi founded his own porcelain and artistic ceramic factory, near San Giobbe, in Cannaregio, whose production continued until 1812, well after his death. This piece has an attribution mark,
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