Ginori Porcelaine

Porcelain table service with purple landscape decoration

Archival records show that, as the main porcelain fancier and collector in the family, Ugolino Bourbon di Sorbello, who lived from 1745 to 1809, was responsible for ordering this impressive table service. Between 1793 and 1796 he made a series of payments to acquire more than four hundred pieces decorated with purple landscapes, all of which have been preserved.

Owing to the quantity and variety of its pieces, in the 19th century this Ginori table service was still considered the finest the palace possessed and thus it was lent to the Orfini di Foligno noble family on the occasion of a visit by King Umberto I di Savoia. The extensive correspondence between Ugolino and Jacopo Fanciullacci, then head of the Ginori porcelain works, show the marquis provided his own designs and a variety of other decorative elements for the tableware he wished to be produced.