Antique 18thC Naples Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea Hot Air Hydrogen Balloon Plate

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Antique 18thC Naples Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea Hot Air Hydrogen Balloon Plate:
$6499.99

For sale is a very rare creamware / earthenware plate made by the Naples ( Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea ) factory around 1783. It is nicely hand painted with a really special scene of the first manned hydrogen balloon flight took place on 1st December 1783 when Professor Jacques Charles and Nicolas Louis Robert ascended from the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris . This type of hydrogen balloon was hence called a Charlière as opposed to a Montgolfière which was the name for a regular hot air balloon. The first flights were such huge events that they made souvenirs of all sorts including on porcelain for the well to do people. I have seen examples by Sevres and Naples before. There is a plate like this in the Albuquerque Balloon Museum as well as Smithsonian Air and Space museum where it is wrongly identified as being made by Niderviller . Just some fun facts I didn't know before I owned this piece. The plate has the balloon in the center with the two people in the gondola, three nice floral arrangements along the edge, three bugs along the edge, a small flower hiding a manufacturing flaw in the well and a nicely shaped rim with a brown trim to the edge and a black line around the edge of the well. A stunning plate! The plate is marked underneath with the RF mark under a crown as shown. The RF stands for Rex Ferdinandus for Ferdinand IV who revived the manufactory at Portici in 1771. The plate is 1.125 inch tall and 9.75 inches in diameter. It is in great condition for its age with some flaking to the brown edge trim, the blue color of the balloon didn't fire perfectly and crazing to the glaze which has stained a bit under the balloon scene. Someone scratched the letters MC on the underside a long time ago. An amazing and stunning piece to display with a design about as rare as they come. 18th century Italian Italy Teller Heissluftballon

If you like my goodies have a look at my other sales for a lot more top maker pieces like KPM , Sevres and so on. Returns accepted if item is not as described. More items can be found when you click on my user name. Photos are part of the description - if you need others just let me know exactly what you are looking for and I'll take care of it speedily! I always provide a tracking number so keep an eye on that since postal services aren't perfect. Pleasedo not send me questions on items other than my own! Фарфор 磁器 porcelain Porzellan porcelaine porcellana Napoli Neapel