A PAIR OF LARGE COAT-OF-ARMS SPOUTED JARS (ORCI), IMPRUNETA, FRANCESCO VANNI, 1661 PAIR OF LARGE COAT-OF-ARMS SPOUTED JARS, IMPRUNETA, FRANCESCO VANNI, 1661 glazed terracotta in copper green. Inscribed on the front FECE FRANCESCO VANNI and dated MDCLXI , h. cm 78 Comparative literature AA.VV., La civiltà del cotto. Arte della terracotta nell'area fiorentina dal XV al XX secolo , Impruneta exhibition cat. 1980, Florence 2009, pp. 218-219; M.G. Ciardi Duprè Dal Poggetto, in Il potere e lo spazio. La scena del principe , exhibition cat., Forte di Belvedere, Florence 1980, pp. 213-214 n. 6.3; G.C. Bojani, C. Ravanelli Guidotti, A. Fanfani, La donazione Galeazzo Cora. Ceramiche dal Medioevo al XIX secolo , Milan 1986, p. 273 n. 698 The pair of large jugs shows an almost ovoid body, with an upper bottleneck at the neck joint and a wide ribbed rim, the engagement of handles in the swollen upper part and the decorative band with phytomorphic element graffiti that emphasises the point of greatest circumference, all of which are common features of Florentine production of jugs in the 17th and 18th century. The tradition of 'cotto' has characterised the Florentine territory for centuries, articulating and differentiating itself in numerous areas, but concentrating with results of particular interest in the Impruneta district. Whether the area was rich in the 'fat, diluted and gentle earth that is used to make figures and pottery' (as Benvenuto Cellini wrote in his treatise on sculpture in 1568) or whether families of skilled craftsmen settled there with great care, it is certain that the manufactures of the Impruneta area brought terracotta workmanship to such a high level of quality, both functionally and aesthetically, from the early Renaissance onwards, that commercial relations with nearby Florence became increasingly intense. Even before the 14th century in Florence itself, there are records of potters, potter's wheelers, orciolai, kiln workers and other terracotta workers, but it is only from the 14th century onwards that they are registered in the Arts, partly in that of the Medici and Speziali, but more frequently in that of the Oliandoli and Pizzicagnoli and that of the Vinattieri. In fact, in the statutes of the respective Arts we often find encouragement for the trade in jars, considered the only means of selling wine and oil, jars that were checked periodically and had to bear the seal of the municipality attesting to their exact capacity. Also in Impruneta we have evidence of a guild of orciolai and mezzinai, attesting to the spread of this trade. As far as domestic pottery is concerned, the study of the earliest objects of use is very difficult due to the scarcity of surviving materials, but an interesting find in Florence during the restoration of palazzo Coverelli has helped to provide a sampling of shapes datable between the mid 14th and early 16th century, a period in which the most widespread form is certainly that of the 'coppo a beccaccia', i.e. an earthenware jar whose rim is made up of an elongated, beak-like spout, a type also documented by Taddeo Gaddi in the scene of Jesus at the Pharisee's Supper painted around 1355 for the Cenacolo in Santa Croce. Alongside this type, other shapes with a ring-shaped neck and rim and two handles inserted in the upper part of the body probably appeared as early as the 16th century, just like the ones presented here, perhaps identifiable with a series of 'four green-enamelled jars with sculpted handles and hermes', which appeared on the market at a Sotheby's Florentine auction (10 October 1979, lot 134), one of which was later exhibited at the exhibition Il Potere e lo Spazio organised at Forte di Belvedere in Florence in 1980. They feature a coat-of-arms with a staircase on the front, probably referring to the Hospital of San Martino alla Scala in Florence, and the inscription Fece Francesco Vanni , as well as the date engraved on the neck in Roman numerals MDCLXI , the same Francesco Vanni whose work as a kiln worker in Impruneta during the 17th century was found in the exhibition La civiltà del cotto in 1980.