Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup
Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup
Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup was painted by Giovanna Garzoni in 1648. The work is a tempera painting on vellum that measures 27.5 x 39.5 centimeters [1]. Between the years 1642 to 1651, Garzoni worked as a court artist for the Medici Grand Dukes in Florence [2]. This particular painting was commissioned by Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’Medici [3]. This still life painting depicts a small English lap dog perched on a red tablecloth-covered table next to a Chinese cup and two biscuits. Two house flies sit atop the biscuits that are surrounded by crumps. The inclusion of the house flies suggest that this still life scene is a brief moment captured in time.
Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup demonstrates a common practice of Garzoni’s, depicting contrasts between the exotic and the common. The English lap dop and the Chinese cup are foreign elements that indicate the reach of the Medici family beyond Italy’s borders, enabling the collecting of animals and objects from other countries [4]. The white porcelain cup is ornamented with paintings of shadowless butterflies and plants reminiscent of traditional Ming dynasty ceramic painting. Garzoni’s imitation of the Ming dynasty painting style further demonstrates a distinction between exotic and common. Garzoni’s flat depiction of nature shown in the cup contrasts with the highly realistic rendering of the houseflies on the biscuits. The differences in painting methods showcase Garzoni’s understanding of the varying painting practices she encountered, including the shadowless Chinese painting and the trompe l’oeil painting common in Europe.
Dish with Decoration of Oxen and Cherry Blossoms
Dish with Decoration of Oxen and Cherry Blossoms relates to Giovanna Garzoni’s Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup as an example of the type of ceramic ware that Garzoni came into contact with and depicted in her artwork. As a court artist for the Medici family, Garzoni had access to the Medici family’s vast collection of objects from around the world, including Ming-era porcelain [5]. The presence of Chinese-style objects can be seen in several Garzoni still life paintings, including Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup. This particular porcelain dish is similar in subject matter and stylistic rendering to the cup pictured in Garzoni’s Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup. Both the dish and the cup are white porcelain and include depictions of nature, with both featuring butterflies and flowering plants as subjects. Additionally, the painting method utilized in Garzoni’s painting of the cup is similar to the style of painting seen in the Ming-era dish. The ornamentation on Garzoni’s Chinese cup demonstrates the great care and detail she took to emulate the painting style characteristic of Ming-era porcelain.
Dish with Decoration of Oxen and Cherry Blossoms is a porcelain dish made during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) sometime between 1615 and 1630 [6]. The dish’s height is 7.9 cm, its diameter is 35.9 cm, and the diameter of the dish’s foot is 22.5 cm. The dish is characterized as Jingdezhen (a city located in the northeastern Jiangxi province of China) porcelain based on the method of painting, which involves porcelain painted in underglaze cobalt blue over white slip [7]. The cobalt blue glaze is used in two-dimensional depictions of nature, including oxen, cherry blossoms, plants, and butterflies around the dish.
Mapping Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup
As a court artist for the Medici family, Garzoni spent a portion of her life living and working in Florence, Italy. Thus, Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup is mapped to Florence, Italy because the patron of the work was Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’Medici. As mentioned above, Garzoni would have had access to items in the Medici collection gathered from around the world, including Jingdezhen, China, where Dish with Decoration of Oxen and Cherry Blossoms is mapped.
Works Cited
[1] Giovanna Garzoni. Dog with a Biscuit and a Chinese Cup. Images, n.d. https://jstor.org/stable/community.14497273.
[2] "Garzoni, Giovanna." Benezit Dictionary of Artists. 31 Oct. 2011; Accessed 12 Oct. 2021. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00071138.
[3] “Canina Con Biscotti e Tazza Cinese Di Giovanna Garzoni - Finestre Sull'Arte, Podcast Di Storia Dell'Arte.” Finestre sull'Arte. Finestre sull'Arte, October 1, 2014. https://www.finestresullarte.info/operadelgiorno/2014/297-giovanna-garzoni-canina-con-biscotti-e-tazza-cinese.php.
[4] Barker, Sheila, and Sheila Barker. “The Universe of Giovanna Garzoni. Art, Mobility, and the Global Turn in the Geographical Imaginary.” Essay. In "The Immensity of the Universe" in the Art of Giovanna Garzoni, 16–29. Sillabe, 2020.
[5] Barker, Sheila, and Sheila Barker. “The Universe of Giovanna Garzoni. Art, Mobility, and the Global Turn in the Geographical Imaginary.” Essay. In "The Immensity of the Universe" in the Art of Giovanna Garzoni, 16–29. Sillabe, 2020.
[6] Dish with Decoration of Oxen and Cherry Blossoms. Images, n.d. https://jstor.org/stable/community.18400505.
[7] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Jingdezhen." Encyclopedia Britannica, November 30, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/place/Jingdezhen.