The body is applied with angular handle and masked spout. The reserves are painted on an intricate and richly gilt black ground, with two panels of pairs of figures in regional costume. The reserves on the coffee pot show regional costumes of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily. One of the scenes shows a couple from the village of Villa Badessa in Abruzzi, a settlement founded in 1743 after ninety-eight Eastern Orthodox Christians had migrated from a Muslim village in southern Albania. A series of watercolor studies made at the time correspond to the views shown here. The community still exists today and is the home of the only Greek Orthodox church, Santa Maria Assunta, in the region.

adapted from Calendar of Events, Fall 2019