40B Alternate view of [.i].
40c Underside of [.1 ].
attributes refer to Neptune and Mercury, respectively,
and either god would have been an appropriate symbol
for "La Serenissima," given her location by the sea and
her mercantile activities. Above the figure of Venice,
four putti support an elaborate cartouche with an in
scription that identifies the object as the "first large-
scale experiment executed May 15, 1769, in the
privileged factory of Geminiano Cozzi in Cannareggio"
(fig. 40E). A panorama of the Piazzetta di San Marco
with foreground ships decorates the other side (fig. 40D).
The piazzetta is viewed from the southwest across the
Grand Canal, roughly from the Isola di San Giorgio.
Above, three putti hold up a large anchor, the mark of the
Cozzi factory. The remainder is decorated in a manner
similar to the Neptune vase.
A Modenese banker, Geminiano Cozzi first became
involved in the business of ceramics as a partner of the
Hewelcke porcelain factory that was based in Venice
from 1761 to 1763. After the factory moved back to its
native Dresden at the close of the Seven Years' War,
Cozzi founded his own factory in Venice, located in the
Cannaregio parish of San Giobbe. Cozzi was a shrewd
businessman and in the ensuing dozen years managed to
create a prosperous enterprise with the support of the
Venetian Senate as well as the board of trade (I cinque
savi alia mercanzia).^6 Also fortunate was the factory's lo
cation down river from sources of kaolin, the white clay
essential for producing hard-paste porcelain.^7 By 1767
the factory included four porcelain kilns, forty-five em
ployees, six apprentices, and a mill at Treviso.^8
The Cozzi factory turned out small-scale pieces such
as tea- and coffeepots, plates, cups, saucers, and figures,
as well as the occasional large-scale tureen, wine cooler,
or vase.^9 Compared with other large-scale Cozzi porce
lain, the form of the Getty vases appears less refined:
they are bottom-heavy, their walls are of uneven thick
ness, their shoulders are rather low (creating a squat
appearance), and their undersides reveal significant fire-
cracks and chips (fig. 40F). Their inscription can be
trusted, therefore, since the vases are convincing as a
"first large-scale experiment" in the newly discovered
porcelain material.OPPOSITE: 40 [.2]232 Two Vases