Footnotes

Literature
Biancalana, Alessandro, Porcellane Ginori a Doccia. La stanza delle meraviglie di casa Colli, 2023, pp. 344-346, cat. 74

This unusual coffee pot is decorated with the underglaze-blue floral motifs pioneered at Doccia, known as "a stampa," heightened by the addition of Perso-Arabic calligraphic script on both sides. Biancalana (op. cit., p. 346) posits that the name may refer to Yrmisekizzade Effendi Mehmed Said Pasha, Grand Vizier (the highest-ranking public servant) of the Ottoman Empire from 25 October, 1755 to 1 April 1756.

It is not known whether this was an actual gift by the Marchese Carlo Ginori to the Grand Vizier, or a bid for the latter's attention at a time when Ginori was making concerted efforts to gain a foothold in the Turkish market, following the very successful earlier foray by Meissen and Du Paquier into this market from the 1730s onwards. In his dual roles as Governor of Livorno (home to the largest port in Tuscany), from 1746 onwards, and owner of the Doccia porcelain factory, Ginori had both an outsized role and vested interest in crafting the Grand Duchy's mercantilist foreign policy, which he did to his benefit. To this end, Ginori advocated for the creation of a Florentine commercial entity that could trade with the Middle and Far East, in the mould of the various other European East India Companies; in 1748, his plans came to fruition with the creation of the Oriental Company of Livorno (Compagnia di Livorno). A year prior, on 20 October, 1757, the imperial ship La Rondinella had set sail for Istanbul from Livorno containing eleven cases of porcelain, totalling some 3,703 pieces, including "versatori alla Turca" (Turkish coffee pots), all left either undecorated or painted "con fiori Blau" (with blue flowers). For more information, see C. Maria Sicca, "Ginori Porcelain," in F. Freddolini and M. Musillo (eds.), Art, Mobility, and Exchange in Early Modern Tuscany and Eurasia, 2020, pp. 100-118.