A rare Doccia armorial beaker with the arms of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani, circa 1753

The front painted with the arms beneath the cardinal's galero, the reverse with a finely painted flower spray flanked by insects, gilt-edged rims,
8cm high (short hair crack and two small flat chips to rim)

Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani (1695-1774) was born to a noble Milanese family, ordained as a priest in 1734, was Apostolic Nuncio in Tuscany from 1735 to 1739, and subsequently in Venice and the Holy Roman Emperor and the Diet of Frankfurt in 1745. He was appointed Cardinal by Pope Benedict XIV in the consistory of 26 November 1753.

Prseumably while serving as Apostolic Nuncio in Tuscany, Stoppani became a friend of the founder of the Doccia factory, Marchese Carlo Ginori. In a letter of 1752, Stoppani thanked Ginori for a gift of some "very fine" porcelain and reminded him that he has sent a drawing of his family's coat-of-arms, presumably for the planned armorial service. A letter dated 1 December 1753 records the delivery of the service, shortly after Stoppani's appointment as Cardinal: 'On Wednesday morning the news of the promotion having reached here, I give myself the honour of relaying to Your Excellency that having left for Urbino, I took advantage of the opportunity to present my compliments to Cardinal Stoppani and to present him with the case which was graciously consigned to me, he was extremely grateful for the magnificent porcelain service contained therein...' (quoted in J. Kräftner, Baroque Luxury Porcelain (2005), p. 287).

The coffee pot from the service is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (accession no. C.51-1931), published in L. Frescobaldi Malenchini/R. Balleri/ O. Ruccelai (eds.), Amici di Doccia Quaderni, VII (2013), cat. no. 88. The milk jug is in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, published by J. Kräftner, op. cit., no. 112.