Le Nove porcelain

Le Nove porcelain was made in the 18th century in the town now called Nove, near Bassano, then in the Republic of Venice's mainland territories, the terrafirma. It was made at a factory owned by Pasquale Antonibon, who was already making fine maiolica in fashionable styles, which continued to be made alongside the porcelain. Production of porcelain began in 1762 and ended when Antonibon died in 1773. But it resumed in 1781, when Francisco Parolin (or Parolini) leased the factory for twenty years in a partnership with the Antonibons, known as the "Parolin period".^[1][2] This lasted until 1802.^[3] Production of porcelain continued intermittently until 1835.

Initially soft-paste porcelain was made, but some hard-paste porcelain from about 1765, though soft-paste pieces are still assigned dates after this. Some of the factory's products are also classified as terraglia, the Italian version of Staffordshire creamware, a fine earthenware. The production was generally similar to that of the Cozzi porcelain factory in Venice itself, and used the same clays, so it can be difficult to distinguish between the two.^[4]

Bassano was the home of the prolific publishing house of the Remondini family, whose large output included popular prints, wallpaper, book illustrations, and decorative prints. These provided a ready source of images for the porcelain-painters of Le Nove, of whom the head was Giovanni Marcon, brought in by Parolin and still working for Baroni in about 1820.^[5]