sotheby's london single owner sale of the collection of giovanni & gabriella barilla

8/3/2019 Sotheby's London Single Owner Sale of The Collection of Giovanni & Gabriella Barilla

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For Immediate ReleasePress Release London

London | +44 (0)20 7293 6000 | Matthew Weigman | [email protected]

Sarah Rustin | [email protected]| Leyla Daybelge | [email protected]

Sothebys London To Hold a Single Owner Sale of Property from

The Collection of Giovanni & Gabriella Barilla

The Auction Features One of the Greatest Collections of Ceramics and Porcelain in Europe,

in Addition to Venetian Fine & Decorative Arts

SOTHEBYS London, Thursday 2nd February, 2011, is delighted to announce the Single Owner sale on 14 th

March 2012 of property from The Collection of Giovanni & Gabriella Barilla: Important Porcelain,

Venetian Fine and Decorative Arts from their Residence in Geneva. Descendants of the founder of the mostimportant pasta producer in the world, Giovanni Barilla and in particular his wife Gabriella created one of the

greatest collections of ceramics and porcelain in Europe. This collection especially focuses on exceptional

Meissen figures including a wonderful collection of some of the earliest Commedia dellArte figures and

some of the rarest groups of Capodimonte and Buen Retiro ever offered on the market. Also featuring an

exquisite selection of Venetian eighteenth-century furniture and paintings, sixteenth-century majolica, silver and

a group of illuminated books of Hours, the sale comprises in excess of 400 lots and is expected to fetch in excess

of 2.5 million.


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The collection, which was predominantly acquired from the late 1960s onwards, has been housed in the beautiful

family residence in Geneva, where Giovanni and Gabriella Barilla created a bespoke room to display their

porcelain and ceramics. Highlights of the sale include a Buen Retiro group of Italian Comedy spaghetti eaters,

circa 1770, modelled by Giuseppe Gricci (est. 15,000 - 25,000), a group of Meissen figures from the

Weissenfels series (prices estimated for each figure, from 4,000 - 6,000 to 8,000 each), a set of four engraved

eighteenth-century Venetian mirrors within carved walnut and parcel-gilt frames (est. 40,000 60,000) and a

17th-century Marco and Sebastiano Ricci oil on canvas titledA capriccio of classical Roman ruins (est. 150,000

- 200,000).

Mario Tavella, Sothebys Deputy Chairman, Europe, comments: This is an extremely exciting sale, particularly

for those who have an appreciation of the very finest porcelain and Venetian furniture. The Porcelain collection

was formed as a result of Gabriella Barillas exhaustive research and passion - guided by the advice of

international experts - resulting in one of the most important collections of European porcelain. Giovanni, on

the other hand, sought only the most elegant furniture for their home, and of which much has been published and

originally belonged to Ing. Giuseppe Gatti Casazza, who left most of his collection to the Museo di Arti

Decorative at CaRezzonico in Venice.

Porcelain and Ceramics Highlights

The collection of Gianni and Gabriella Barilla

saw an inspired evolution from exquisitely

decorated Neapolitan and Venetian porcelain

tableware, including cups and teapots, to superb

figurines, in particular exceptional Meissen

figures. The selection to be offered includes a

rare Meissen Figure of Harlequin with pug as a

hurdy-gurdy, modelled by the major innovator

in European porcelain, J.J. Kandler, circa 1738-1740 (est. 25,000-35,000). A further Commedia dellArte

highlight - and one of a series of only sixteen - is an extremely rare Hchst figure of Dottore Boloardo,

modelled by Johann Christoph Ludwig von Lcke, circa 1752 (est. 30,000 40,000). The Hscht factory made

its first porcelains in 1746 and its reputation rests largely on the products of a very short period, 1746-1753,

essentially thanks to its Commedia DellArte figures.

The uniquely beautiful figures by master porcelain-maker Giuseppe Gricci are

fine examples of artistic originality, as well as testaments to the refined tastes,

aesthetic intellect and strong personalities of the Barillas, but proved a

challenge to acquire; they were not only rare but hard-won at auctions. A

highlight of the porcelain to be offered is a Buen Retiro group of Italian


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Comedy Spaghetti Eaters, probably modelled by Gricci (est. 15000 25000), which features a whimsical scene

of three boys. One of the boys is wearing a grey pointed hat with one hand in a tall bucket of spaghetti and the

other hand filled with more spaghetti, and another boy is being fed a wide mouthful of spaghetti. The mould for

this group may have been taken from Naples to Madrid in 1759, but it is more likely that this is in fact one of the

first groups of its kind executed.

The Barilla Collection represents all genres of the most iconic thematic

groupings in Italian porcelain art, including Commedia dellArte, The

Scenes with Courting Couples, Domestic Life and The Cries of

Naples. One of these notable pieces is a very rare Capodimonte group

called The Rat-Catchers (I Cacciatori di Topi), modelled by Giuseppe

Gricci, circa 1750, which depicts a dynamic scene centring around two

scurrying mice. There is no doubt that this model (est. 60,000 80,000)

shows Griccis work at its most typical and best. His modelling

harmoniously complements the porcelain paste produced at Capodimonte, while his palette of colours is light but

effective, perfect for highlighting the details showing the smooth white surface of the Neapolitan porcelain at its

best. The scene is taken from everyday eighteenth-century life and opens a window into the homes of the

Neapolitan bourgeoisie of Griccis time.

The sale will also feature a very rare Vezzi plate which represents only

the second Vezzi plate ever to have been recorded (est. 30,000

50,000). The decoration of this superb piece has been attributed in the

documents of the Vezzi manufactory to a painter called Duramano, and

is exceptional for the dimension and the condition and freshness of the

lively and bright palette, which refer to the fantasy world of

chinoiserie, similar in style and taste to the lacquered decoration of 18th

century Venetian furniture.

Fine Venetian Furniture and Paintings Highlights

The Collection features a set of four Venetian mid eighteenth-

century engraved mirrors within carved walnut and parcel-gilt

frames estimated at 40,000 60,000. The fine quality of the

engraving, together with their completeness as a set of four rather

than only a pair makes them an extremely rare offering


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A highlight among the fine Venetian furniture to be offered is very fine mid

eighteenth-century Italian fruitwood inlaid walnut and burr walnut bureau cabinet

estimated at 100,000 - 150,000.

Among the paintings to be offered from the Barilla Collection is a

seventeenth-century oil-on-canvas capriccio of classical Roman

ruins by Marco and Sebastiano Ricci (est. 150,000 - 200,000).

The work is thought to be a late work by Ricci, very comparable to

a Capriccio at Windsor Castle, which is signed and dated 1729. On

account of their very similar size and the similarities in the

disposition of the figures, this and a very similar Capriccio in the

Museo Civico in Vicenza - one of Ricci's most famous works in

this style - have long been thought to bependants.

Highlights From the Barilla Collection of Illuminated Manuscripts

Among a fine selection of illuminated manuscripts is a fifteenth-century Book

of Hours, notable for its extremely unusual representations of the animal

kingdom and a rare early depiction of an elephant. Produced circa 1465 in

France, the wealth of whimsical and often secular illumination in the drolleries

and scenes in the borders of the leaves includes bears playing bagpipes,

injured boars hobbling on crutches, and cats washing themselves. All of these

nod towards the small and even mundane details of daily life. Offsetting these

are fantastical creations imagined beyond the boundaries of Europe, namely a

scene of a Moor seated on a camel banging a drum, and the elephant with an

elaborate two-tiered stone castle on its back. The manuscript is estimated at

20,000-30,000.

Further notable manuscripts include The Fortesque Hours, most probably written and illuminated in Bruges circa

1460-70 for an English patron, evidently a member of the Fortesque family of Devon (est. 18,000-25,000) and a

Book of Hours from circa 1420-30 which contains miniatures by at least two skilled Parisian artists (est.

10,000-15,000).


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sotheby's london single owner sale of the collection of giovanni & gabriella barilla

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