Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana and Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte present the Italian stops of the tour of Ballet des Porcelaines, a mysterious ballet that has been lost and that reveals the exchanges between East and West, reinterpreted for a contemporary public by Meredith Chan, art history professor at New York University, and Phil Chan, choreographer and activist.
Together they have revived the Ballet des Porcelaines, also known as The Teapot Prince, a Baroque ballet pantomime from 1739 of which nothing survives of its set design, costumes, or choreography, with the aim to update this work for a contemporary and multicultural audience. On the one hand a standard Orientalist fairy tale, the ballet is also an allegory for the intense European desire to know and possess the secrets of porcelain manufacture. By reimagining this chinoiserie rococo production, they intend to explore the meaning and relevance of historical artworks for the present, and to communicate the profound sense of mystery, luxury, and seduction that porcelain held in the past.
Cast of the 'Ballet des Porcelaines' at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy/Villa Albertine’s headquarters at the Payne Whitney Mansion in New York City. Photo by Joe Carrotta.
After the representations at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, Palazzo Grassi hosts four representations of the ballet.
A collaboration between Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana and Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte with Associazione Amici di Capodimonte ets, Fondazione Campania dei Festival, Centro per la Storia dell’Arte delle Città Portuali and Center for Ballet and the Arts della NYU.
