Coffee Pot with the Chigi Coat of Arms

This coffee pot may have been created to celebrate the marriage, in 1776, of Prince Sigismondo Chigi and Maria Giovanna Medici d’Ottaiano. Its details denote a taste for archaeological motifs. The female head supporting the spout reflects Valadier’s enduring interest in Roman antiquities. Two unusual details are the high neck, which lends atypical proportions to the coffee pot, and the overlay of a leaf on the wooden handle.