Naples Ferdinandea Hot Air / Helium Balloon Plate

This is a very rare plate made by the Naples ( Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea ) factory around 1783. It is nicely hand painted with a really special scene of the first manned hydrogen balloon flight took place on 1st December 1783 when Professor Jacques Charles and Nicolas Louis Robert ascended from the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris . This type of hydrogen ballon was hence called a Charlière as opposed to a Montgolfière which was the name for a regular hot air balloon. The first flights were such huge events that they made souvenirs of all sorts including on porcelain for the well to do people. I have seen examples by Sevres and Naples before. There is a plate like this in the Albuquerque Balloon Museum as well as Smithsonian Air and Space museum where it is wrongly identified as being made by Niderviller . Just some fun facts I didn't know before I owned this piece. The plate has the ballon in the center with the two people in the gondola, three nice floral arrangements along the edge, three bugs along the edge, a small flower hiding a manufacturing flaw in the well and a nicely shaped rim with a brown trim to the edge and a black line around the edge of the well. A stunning plate! The plate is marked underneath with the RF mark under a corwn as shown. The RF stands for Rex Ferdinandus for Ferdinand IV who revived the manufactory at Portici in 1771. The plate is 1.125 inch tall and 9.75 inches in diameter. It is in great condition for its age with some flaking to the brown edge trim, the blue color of the balloon didn't fire perfectly and crazing to the glaze which has stained a bit under the balloon scene. An amazing and stunning piece to display with a design about as rare as they come. Please email me for more information or other pictures.