FLORENCE.- A very rare and important 82 cm. high porcelain figure of Hercules created at the Doccia factory in Tuscany in 1753-55 sold for £657,250 ( $1,020,573 US Dollars) last week in Bonhams Fine European Ceramics auction, setting a new world record price for Doccia porcelain at auction. It was the first time that a Doccia figure of this size had come to auction and the piece far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of £300,000-500,000. The stunning figure of Hercules is based on the famous Antique sculpture of the Farnese Hercules, now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. The gesso model used in its creation has not moved since the 18th century, and is still kept in the Doccia factory museum. The Doccia factory was founded in the middle of the 18th century by Carlo Ginori, and is still operating in Sesto Fiorentino, just outside of Florence. The factory started making large-scale porcelain figures, a hugely ambitions task, in the late 1740’s.