The exhibition "Alchemy Ginori 1737-1896. Art and Technique in Manufacturing," hosted at the Museo Internazionale della Ceramica in Faenza from Jan. 31 to June 2, 2026, offers an original reinterpretation of two centuries of the history of the Doccia Factory, offering a new interpretive key to the evolution of ceramics between the 18th and 19th centuries.
Through a wide selection of works and artifacts from the collections of the Museo Ginori and the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, the exhibition showcases the constant dialogue between creativity and the constraints imposed by the material, between aesthetic tension and scientific progress, between fidelity to tradition and transformations in the taste of patrons.
The itinerary begins in the first half of the 18th century, when Carlo Ginori, driven by a deep passion for chemistry, founded the factory and personally devoted himself to researching the formula of the porcelain mixture. This experimental tension gave rise to a workshop in which art and science came together in dynamic equilibrium.
The exhibition itinerary is then divided into sections devoted to porcelain sculptures, the progressive enrichment of pictorial decoration and the expansion of the color palette. Ample space is reserved for the innovations introduced by Carlo Leopoldo Ginori, the creator of the four-story kiln, the chemist Giusto Giusti, who rediscovered the recipe for the lustre of ancient Renaissance majolica, and the first artistic directors of the manufactory, protagonists of the stylistic consolidation of the company.
The exhibition concludes with the transformation of Ginori into a modern industrial reality and with a glance projected toward the twentieth century, when the birth of Richard-Ginori would mark a new phase of prosperity, founded also on the production of electroplated porcelain, rarely exhibited in museum settings.
With this exhibition, MIC once again pays tribute to the extraordinary richness of the Museo Ginori's collections (currently closed to the public for renovation work at its Sesto Fiorentino location) in continuity with the collaboration initiated on the occasion of the exhibition "Gio Ponti - Ceramics," hosted in Faenza from March 17 to October 13, 2024.
