Click on image(s) for larger view

Maker/s

Unknown probably (pottery)

Category

tin-glazed earthenware
maiolica (sub-category)

Name

bowl

School/Style

Renaissance

Description

Tin-glazed earthenware painted in poychrome with, in the middle, a shield and, on the sides, palmettes, cornucopiae and leaf borders.

Pale yellowish buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the interior of the bowl and exterior; the interior of the foot unglazed. Painted in blue, green, yellow, dark yellow, red, manganese, and black. Shape 73. Circular with deep sides and almost flat base; high spreading foot with a sloping outer edge. In the middle, framed by blue and yellow zig-zags between concentric circles, is a shield of testa di cavallo form charged with the arms or, six balls gules (shown dark yellow) surrounding one azure charged with three fleurs-de-lis or, set diagonally on a square with blue and yellow corners, reserved in a yellow ground decorated with blue dotted geometrical motifs. On the sides, green and blue palmettes alternate with formal plants flanked by cornucopiae reserved in a dark yellow ground. A blue band encircles the rim. Outside, there are formal plants flanked by cornucopiae reserved in a dark yellow ground, with above, a blue and yellow leaf border, and below, blue and yellow horizontal bands. The underside of the bowl is decorated with red and dark yellow San Bernardino rays radiating from blue and yellow concentric bands. On the stem and foot are mock gadroons with yellow diamonds in the spaces at their lower ends, and, on the outer edge, a border of scale pattern between blue bands.

Production Notes

Formerly attributed to Cafaggiolo, but more likely to have been made at Montelupo

Production Place

Montelupo (pottery) (place) ()

Tuscany (pottery) (region)

Italy (pottery) (country)

Technique Description

Pale yellowish buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the interior of the bowl and exterior; the interior of the foot unglazed. Painted in blue, green, yellow, dark yellow, red, manganese, and black.

Dimensions

height: (whole): 18.2 cm
diameter: (rim): 27.0 cm
diameter: (foot): 14.6 cm

Period

16th century

Date

circa 1500 to 1525

Provenance

bequeathed: Spero, Alfred 1932 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Alfred Spero, London.

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund.

Documentation

1. Rackham, Bernard (1935 (reprinted Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1987)) Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: p. 282]
   [comments: Publ. I, p. 282, no. 2174, II, pl. 168A]
2. Poole, Julia E. (1995) Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: pp. 131-2]
   [comments: Publ. pp. 131-2, no. 189, and colour pl. 11, attributed to Cafaggiolo or Montelupo]
3. Thornton, Dora (2009) Italian Renaissance Ceramics: A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London: British Museum Press [page: 206-10]
   [comments: Cf. pp. 206-10, no. 130, 1855,12-1,76, a superb bowl bearing]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.3-1932 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 48355; Input Date: 2002-05-31 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)