History and technique of the Capodimonte Porcelain art
The art of ceramics boasts in Naples a centuries-old tradition. In 1739 Carlo III, king of the two Sicilies, was the first to introduce the first napoletan factory near his royal palace on the hills of Capodimonte.
The factory of the Capodimonte Porcellains takes its origin from the marriage betwaeen king Carlo and Maria Amalia Valpurga, daughter of the Elector of Sassonia Federico Augusto and niece of August the Strong, creator of the famous porcellain factory in Meissen.
The success of Capodimonte Porcellain is surely due to the quality of the mixture of the soft paste at high feldspathic contents which exhalts the beautiful miniatures made in the point of a brush.
The characteristic of the soft paste enables to the cover paint to 'take the decoration up' causing a smooth effect of 'vacuum glass'.
The best hands for the mixture in porcelain from Calabria, Fuscaldo e Porghelia, had good results so that this kind of porcellain was considered superior to those used in the most famous French manufactures.
The quality of the paste was very good: soft because of the pack of the kaolin that difficult to be shaped, especially as regards the details it was of a wonderful white colour, translucid, with a very fine grain. Its beauty was increased by a very compact cover paint, which caused effects of light and chromatic tones.
The first phase of working consists in shaping
exclusivly by hand each of the details that, successfully assembled, will form the item.
After the drying process to eliminate the moisture, the piece is cooked.
The cooking consists of two phases: the first one at 700-800 °C. When the colour is weel absorbed and the second one when the decoration is made by hand.
The second cooking at 1400-1500 °C makes the colours indelible and brilliant for a long period.
The decoration in golden spinning needs a third cooking
