Dried figs and hazelnuts

Dried figs and hazelnuts depicts a theory of dried fruit that evokes Christmas atmospheres.

The work is the only signed one in a series of six small paintings that, although missing from the original Carditello picture gallery of 1792, are almost certainly attributable to Giacomo Nani's first production.

The series recalls the one sent as a gift by Charles of Bourbon to his mother Elisabeth Farnese in the 1740s; in the same period, the sovereign invited Nani – already active among the Carafa and Sanseverino families – to reproduce his works on the ceramics of the Royal Factory of Capodimonte and make the delicacies of Campania Felix known throughout Europe. A few examples of this fine production are today on display at the Museo Civico Gaetano Filangieri in Naples.