20th Century Figurative Art Porcelain Figurine of a Napoleonic Soldier Wearing the Uniform of the Imperial Guard Recruits by Guido Cacciapuoti, Italy, 1920s

Item :
Polychrome hard porcelain sculpture, depicting a soldier of the Napoleonic period, precisely a recruit of the French Imperial Guard as written on the back of the base "Garde Imperiale Pupille", created by the famous Italian ceramist Guido Cacciapuoti, of Neapolitan origins but working in Milan. There is, under the base, the signature made by hand, with a nib, directly on the ceramic mixture, and the stamp with the catalog number. The proposed object can be dated to the first decades of the 20th century, around 1920-1940.

Final thoughts on the object:
The subject represented is very rare, the armed corps called "French Imperial Guard" is the elite military unit created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804, this is the recruit, or rather the uniform used before even entering the armed corps, for this reason there is is the final "Pupille" wording. The artistic quality of the sculpture is very high, with meticulous attention to detail and the base richly worked and finished in pure gold. Indeed, the Napoleonic soldiers made by the Cacciapuoti factory have always been considered among the most beautiful made of all the factories of the first decades of the 20th century. Finally we specify that this soldier belongs to the first edition of the military uniforms created by Cacciapuoti, as can be seen from the base. Subsequently, another one was created, edited by Righetto, after the 1940s, with a simpler base, but the artistic quality of the first edition is much superior to that of the second.

Information on the artist and/or manufacturer:
Guido Cacciapuoti (Naples, 1892 - 1953), belongs to an ancient family of majolica makers from whom he learned the secrets of ceramic art and in 1927 he founded "Grès e ceramiche d'arte" in Milan with his brother. A very talented modeller, he immediately enjoyed great success and is considered one of the most important Italian ceramists of the first half of the 20th century.