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Figure of a chained captive after Pietro Tacca's figures of slaves on the monument to Ferdinand de' Medici in Leghorn (Livorno), Italy.
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Doccia porcelain factory
Figure of a chained captive after Pietro Tacca's figures of slaves on the monument to Ferdinand de' Medici in Leghorn (Livorno), Italy.
c.1770
Firenze (Florence)
Hard-paste porcelain
Museum number: M214
Curatorial note
This Italian porcelain figure was made in Florence at the Doccia factory, from models by Foggini after the bronze chained captives by Pietro Tacca which surround the base of Bandinelli's statue of Ferdinand I de ’Medici (1626) in Livorno representing Barbary pirates chained and enslaved after naval victories over the Ottoman Turks. Similar figures were modelled for the base of a grandiose allegorical group depicting 'The Triumph of Florence's Glories', of which there is an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). For a fuller account of the two series of slave figures produced by the Doccia factory see the online collection entry for the V&A group (V&A no.380:1-1876).
Literature
Anthea Brook, 'From Borgo Pinti to Doccia: The Afterlife of Pietro Tacca’s Moors for Livorno' in The Slave in European Art From Renaissance Trophy to Abolitionist Emblem edited by Elizabeth McGrath and Jean Michel Massing (Warburg Institute Colloquia, 20 Editors: Jill Kraye and Charles Burnett; The Warburg Institute – Nino Aragno Editore, London and Turin, 2012)
Associated objects
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk