The Spaghetti Eaters (Columbine and Pulcinella) ca. 1750 Capodimonte Porcelain Manufactory Giuseppe Gricci (Italian, ca. 1700–1770) was one of the most accomplished and prolific porcelain modelers of the eighteenth century and often compared to his contemporaries Johann Joachim Kandler (German, 1706–1775) at the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany () and Franz Anton Bustelli (Swiss, d. 1763) at the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory in Munich () in terms of stature in the field of porcelain sculpture. Gricci’s work is remarkable for being executed in soft-paste porcelain,

The Spaghetti Eaters (Columbine and Pulcinella) ca. 1750 Capodimonte Porcelain Manufactory Giuseppe Gricci (Italian, ca. 1700–1770) was one of the most accomplished and prolific porcelain modelers of the eighteenth century and often compared to his contemporaries Johann Joachim Kandler (German, 1706–1775) at the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany () and Franz Anton Bustelli (Swiss, d. 1763) at the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory in Munich () in terms of stature in the field of porcelain sculpture. Gricci’s work is remarkable for being executed in soft-paste porcelain, which did not permit the degree of detail or crispness that Kandler or Bustelli could achieve in working with the hard-paste porcelain. Very little is known about Gricci’s career before he joined the Capodimonte factory; nonetheless, his name appears in the factory’s first personnel list dated November 1743.[1] Gricci arrived in Naples from Florence, where he presumably received his training, and some of his earliest work at Capodimonte reflects an influence of Florentine Baroque sculpture.[2] It is clear that Gricci was a skilled sculptor by the time of his employment, and he was soon appointed head ’s talents as a sculptor in the medium of porcelain were made apparent when a group of large religious figures (, .2) were among the first works produced at Capodimonte during the mid-1740s. Shortly after these works appeared Gricci changed his focus and began producing a series of smaller figures that depict a wide range of secular subjects, including those drawn from daily life or from the commedia dell’arte. Gricci appears to have been influenced by numerous sources, but the majority of these figures produced during the second half of the 1740s to the mid-1750s share a number of characteristics. While the figures often have small heads, stocky or thickset limbs, and are simply defined, they nevertheless convey an expressiveness and sense of

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