A Naples (Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea) sugar bowl, c.1790-1800, well painted in the manner of the

A Naples (Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea) sugar bowl, c.1790-1800, well painted in the manner of the Ercolanese Service, with Dionysus and seven other Classical figures at various pursuits, reserved on a white ground between gilt bands, the interior rim with a formal gilt lappet design, blue crowned N mark, a chip to the inside of the footrim, 9.5cm dia.

The figures on this piece are taken from wall paintings discovered at Herculaneum and illustrated in 'Antichita di Ercolano Esposte', volume II, pl.XX. The volumes were published between 1757 and 1792 (volume II published in 1760). Cf. Christie's, Rome, 24th April 1991, lot 313 for a tray depicting five of the same figures; also, Christie's, London, 9th-12th October 1995, lot 88 for a pair of ice pails from the Ercolanese service with the same figures.