Offered by Subert
Two pot mustard set
Felice Clerici or Pasquale Rubati Factory
Milan, 1745-1788 Circa
Maiolica polychrome decorated “a piccolo fuoco” (third fire)
It measures: 3.94 in in height x 7.36 x 6.06 in (10 cm x 18.7 x 15.4)
It weighs: 0.51 lb (231 g)
State of conservation: some chipping on the lid of one container and minor wear along the edges.
This two pot mustard set consists of a small tray with a slightly concave mixtilinear rim and two oval-bodied containers. The two pots have ear-shaped handles and lids fitted with button grips.
The decoration, in third fire polychromy, shows, in the center of the composition, a typical multi-levelled pagoda in blue with touches of red and yellow, which define the upper balcony and entrance archway. Upon manufacture, this style was referred to as “al casotto chinese (Chinese hut-style)”, but it is commonly known today as “al carabiniere (carabiniere-style)” due to the coloration of the lid grips, which resemble the plumes on the hats of the carabinieri.
The pagoda is accompanied by elements of oriental landscape such as the tall, pierced rock and stylized saplings which extend along the body to complete the decoration below the handles. On the containers, a river landscape, in which a small boat stands out, can be seen. On the tray the decoration is repeated on the brim and part of the well, showing, on the front, the two characters typical of this ornament (a Chinese dignitary welcoming a Westerner), with a pagoda in the center.
This motif, referred to in Europe as “Imari trichromy,” spread throughout the West via imported Chinese porcelain, which in turn reinterpreted Japanese models originally produced for the Chinese market and exported through the port of Imari. In the second half of the eighteenth century, this decorative repertoire entered the visual vocabulary of numerous European manufactories, sometimes enriched with the use of gold in place of yellow.
In the inventories of the Clerici manufactory, this type of decoration is clearly identified as “alla chinese con casotto” (“Chinese-style with pavilion”) (R. Ausenda, La maiolica a Milano nel Settecento, Florence 2025, p. 110). It does not appear to be recorded in the lists of the Rubati manufactory, although signed examples attributable to his production do exist, typically distinguishable by a more refined pictorial style (R. Ausenda, ed., Musei e Gallerie di Milano. Museo d’Arti Applicate. Le ceramiche, vol. II, Milan 2001, pp. 285–286, no. 306).
Based on material, style, and technical characteristics, the work can be confidently attributed to one of the Milanese manufactories of Felice Clerici or Pasquale Rubati, active between 1745 and 1788. The attribution and dating are supported by comparison with a group of works consistent in form and decoration, published in the catalogue of the Museo d’Arti Applicate at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan (R. Ausenda, ed., Musei e Gallerie di Milano. Museo d’Arti Applicate. Le ceramiche, vol. II, Milan 2001, pp. 286–303, no. 307).
The morphology of the two-barrel mustard pot is, however, present in both manufactures with different ornamentation: see a specimen in the Castello Sforzesco collections in Milan, with decoration “alla barbottine” equipped with a fruit-shaped grip and lids with cutouts for spoons, which are lacking in ours (R. Ausenda, a cura di, Musei e Gallerie di Milano. Museo d’Arti Applicate. Le ceramiche. T. II, Milano 2001, p. 378, n. 360).
Maolica and porcelain production in the eighteenth century belonged mainly to the great royal families or in any case to the noble families who made the manufacture of ceramic works a source of prestige. In Milan, under Maria Teresa of Austria, the time period witnessed a real opening to new industrialists who, by virtue of the privatizations granted by the government, assumed a real business risk, giving life, albeit not without conflict, to flourishing factories and to production which was among the most elegant and most requested at the moment and which still today remains object of collection.
Bibliography:
R. Ausenda, a cura di, Musei e Gallerie di Milano. Museo d’Arti Applicate. Le ceramiche. T. II, Milano 2001,
R. Ausenda, La maiolica a Milano nel Settecento, Firenze 2025.
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