TAGLIOLINI FILIPPO (1745 - 1809) Attributed to. Aristotle and Alexander biscuit poreclaine Cm 28,00 x 33,50 x 24,00 Under the base: - Scarto - in italics. Losses Provenance: Sieri Pepoli Collection The group, depicting the young Alexander receiving Aristotle's teachings at the Macedonian court of Pella, is part of the famous invention models that Filippo Tagliolini conceived as central elements of the so-called table "desserts" inspired by the ancient world and by the recent archaeological discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum, produced by the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea and intended for the court of the Kingdom of Naples. These "desserts", which frequently combined architectural elements "after the antique", sculptural groups in biscuit (like the one presented here) and floral decorations, could be composed as desired based on the number of diners, decorating the banquet tables according to the archaeological taste of that time. This specific composition is mentioned in the "Nota de' prezzi di alcuni modelli fatti dall'anno 1796 in avanti", compiled by Tagliolini himself in 1805, among the groups "increased in price" (from 4 ducati to 6.60). Six examples of the same model are then listed in the 1807 sales inventory of the Real Fabbrica. Of this group are recorded, among others, a model at the Arqueological Museum of Madrid (A. Gonzalez-Palacios, "Lo Scultore Filippo Tagliolini e la porcellana di Napoli", Turin 1988, p. 161, cat. N ° 29. ), and a second, attributed to Tagliolini and preserved in the collections of the Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia in Rome: this one too has the writing "Scarto" in italics on the back of the base, probably due to small defects of cooking. Comparative literature: A. Gonzalez-Palacios, "Lo Scultore Filippo Tagliolini e la porcellana di Napoli", Turin 1988, p. 161, cat. n ° 29.