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Maker/s

Unknown perhaps (maker)

Collection

H.S. Reitlinger

Category

tin-glazed earthenware
maiolica

Name

pharmacy jar

School/Style

Renaissance

Description

Renaissance maiolica pharmacy jar, painted in polychrome with, on the front, a bust of a woman and, on the back, a nude infant boy holding a windmill.

Pharmacy jar. Reddish buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the interior and exterior; base unglazed. Painted in bright blue, green, yellow, dark yellow, brownish-orange, and black. Waisted albarello with short neck and sloping shoulders, tapering slightly towards the projecting base. The front is decorated with an oval panel containing a bust of a woman wearing a striped cap, in profile to left, reserved in a blue ground. On the other side is an oval panel containing a nude infant boy holding a windmill, standing in grass. Both panels are framed by yellow half-leaves and are separated by stylised scrolling foliage and yellow flowers. The shoulder and the area above the base are decorated with black scrolls on a yellow ground. `L 2/4' is incised into the base.

Production Notes

The jar was attributed to Deruta when sold in 1939, but the bust seems more akin to belle donne on maiolica from the Marches, and the bright colouring, particularly the yellow and green, is unlike maiolica from Deruta. The girl's head is comparable to that on C.136-1933, which is surrounded by trophies of the type associated with Castel Durante.

Production Place

Castel Durante (maker) (place) ()

The Marches (maker) (region) ()

Italy (maker) (country)

Technique Description

Reddish buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the interior and exterior; base unglazed. Painted in bright blue, green, yellow, dark yellow, brownish-orange, and black.

Dimensions

height: (whole): 20.5 cm
diameter: (rim): 10.0 cm
diameter: (base): 10.7 cm
diameter: (whole): 12.3 cm

Period

16th century
Renaissance

Date

circa 1530 to 1550

Provenance

bequeathed: Reitlinger, Henry Scipio 1950 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)

Dr Alfred Pringsheim; Sotheby's, 7 June 1939, Catalogue of the renowned collection of Italian majolica, the property of Dr Alfred Pringsheim of Munich, lot 45; H.S. Reitlinger (d.1950); the Reitlinger Trust, Maidenhead, from which transferred in 1991.

H.S. Reitlinger Bequest

Inscriptions/Marks

1. inscription
   Position: in base
   Method: incised
   Content: L 2/4
   

Documentation

1. (1994) Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim, Ferrara: Belriguardo Arte
   [comments: Publ. pl. CCXII, no. 381a (312a) 381b (312b) ?1530]
2. Poole, Julia E. (1995) Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: p. 300]
   [comments: Publ. p. 300, no. 370]

Other Notes

Accession Number

C.269-1991 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 73914; Input Date: 2002-06-21 / Last Edit: 2010-01-19)