ceramics, white, glazed, at the centre Heracles embracing his wife, in the foreground Nessus lying on the floor the lefthand raised, to the side Poseidon reclining pouring water from an amphora, a seated companion embracing him and pointing at the lovers, oval rock base, height: 36 cm, length: 41 cm, small restorations
Capo-di-Monte Manufactory, Naples, Italy, late 18th cent., impressed N-mark with points, crowned circle indistinct (Ru)

The identical HERACLES DEIANEIRA and NESSUS group is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. for the Coralie Walker Hanna Memorial Collection 1939.192;
In 1771, Ferdinand IV., the son of Karl III., established a porcelain manufactory in Naples, at the Villa di Portici which was relocated to the royal palace in 1773, where it flourished until 1806, when the company had to temporarily suspend production owing to French occupation. Its artistic output was heavily influenced by antiquities research. Directors included the Spaniard Tommaso Perez (1772-1781), and, after his death, Domenico Veduti..
Lit.:
Dankert, Munich 1954, p 321, Naples, mark No. 3, impressed;
Lit.:
Graesse, Munich 1986, p 634, Naples 1771-1834, mark No. 3 impressed, p 801, porcelain mark register, Naples 634 impressed;
Heracles, Greek myth. hero, following the completion of the twelve labours, he settles in Trachis with his second wife Deianira, who becomes the inadvertent agent in his tragic death, which Heracles himself hastens through self-immolation.
Deianira, Greek myth, wife of Heracles, whose painful death she causes by giving him a shirt drenched in the blood of Nessus, earlier slain by Heracles, while attempting to cast a love charm.
Neptune, Roman god of freshwater and the sea, identified with the Greek god Poseidon.