C1|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>This beautiful dish is particularly important, both for its armorial shield and its decoration. The shield bears the arms of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the form used between 1419, when Philip the Good inherited the dukedom of Burgundy, and 1429, when he received the order of the Golden Fleece, which is absent here. He commissioned another service, bearing the Golden Fleece, probably between 1429 and 1435, providing early evidence of the export market for these luxury goods. The decoration shows the influence of the Gothic style, and is exceptional in incorporating a wreath of vine shoots encircling the shield. It combines cobalt blue motifs with brownish gold lustre.<br>The underside is painted with stylised foliate scrolls on a dotted ground and a trefoil shape with shredded edges, known as ‘parsley leaf’, in the centre.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.<br>The hole pierced near the top end of the rim enabled the dish to be hung for display.
C2|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>This dish exemplifies the coexistence of two decorative styles in early fifteenth-century Spanish art: Islamic and Gothic. Painted in deep cobalt blue are a central trefoil, four petals alternating with pseudo-Kufic inscriptions and an interlace pattern running along the rim. These elements are set against a busy background of panels and scrolls of silvery gold lustre that belong to the Islamic tradition of geometric and text-based decoration. The underside, decorated in lustre, bears a large eagle surrounded by foliage reminiscent of the Gothic style.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.<br>A pair of holes pierced near the top of the rim enabled the dish to be hung for display.
C3|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>This magnificent dish exemplifies beautifully the coexistence of two decorative styles in early fifteenth-century Spanish art: Islamic and Gothic.<br>A shield bearing the royal arms of Castile and Leon, one of the historic realms that would later form part of the Spanish Crown, is depicted in lustre at the centre of the dish. Around this, painted in deep cobalt blue, are four devices representing the Tree of Life radiating from the centre to form a cross, and four panels of pseudo-Kufic script radiating from the centre in the form of a diagonal cross. The script represents the term ‘al-'Afiya’ (well-being), a relatively common expression also found on contemporary carpets. These elements are set against a busy background of panels of scrolls, arcs, meander pattern, and simple foliage scrolls in yellowy gold lustre that belong to the Islamic tradition of geometric and text-based decoration. The underside is painted in lustre with a large eagle amid stylised acacia foliage, and appears to take inspiration from the Gothic style.<br>The Trees of Life and the panels of pseudo-Kufic script were painted as lustre highlights over the underglaze cobalt blue. Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.<br>A pair of holes pierced near the top of the rim enabled the dish to be hung for display.
C4|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>A fig leaf or a bell-shaped flower appears prominently at the centre of the well of this elegant bowl. Concentric wreaths of foliage, of a type usually described as ‘ivy leaves’, seem to spring from its stem and extend to the rim. The yellow gold lustre of the leaves has been scratched through to create the illusion of veins, adding detail to the otherwise flat decoration. Patterns with branches of leaves were a favourite design from the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and became particularly popular in Italy, where they were widely copied. The underside of this bowl is glazed and painted in lustre with thirteen concentric circles at approximately equal intervals.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.
C5|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>The surface of this spectacular dish is painted exclusively in a brownish-gold lustre on a cream glaze. Except for the coat of arms at its centre, it is covered with the style of intricate lustre decoration that was popular around 1500. Its shape may derive from contemporary silver tableware, which served as a model for Valencian potters. The spiral relief gadrooning around the rim and on the wall of the central boss may have been shaped with the help of moulds, its undulating surface adding to the glistening effect of the lustre. The gadroons are variously patterned with scale work, sprays of flowers and six-spoke wheels. Similar motifs appear in concentric circles separated by bands within the bowl.<br>The coat of arms is unidentified. It bears the royal arms of Castile (a castle) and Leon (a rampant lion) over a stripped or ‘barruly’ ground, possibly a sign that the individual or family holding this shield of arms was granted a royal recognition or augmentation. The underside is painted with wreaths of acacia foliage and, in the centre of the boss, with a large star-like device.<br>The raised moulding at the centre of the dish suggests that it could have been designed as an emplacement for a matching ewer, an example of which can be seen in C7.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.<br>A pair of pierced suspension holes near the top of the rim enabled the dish to be hung for display.
C7|1|1|The technical and decorative mastery of the potters in medieval Spain was unrivalled in early fifteenth-century Europe. Their wares, with pale tin-glazed grounds and bold decoration inspired by Islamic ornament, were coveted by the nobility of France and Italy.<br>The town of Manises, near Valencia, was one of the major centres of ceramic production in Spain during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It specialised in lustreware. The lustre technique produces an iridescent surface sheen. This technique had been introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The more advantageous prospects for potters in the region of Valencia, possibly combined with the entrepreneurial eye of Pedro Boil, Lord of Manises, favoured the settlement of artisans in Manises and its neighbouring towns.<br>Spanish lustreware was highly sought after in other European countries, where these pieces were considered to be highly sophisticated and nothing like local production. The prominent position of Valencia as the financial capital of the Crown of Aragon during the fifteenth century, with a busy port strategically located for the import and export of products to both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, assured a steady supply of wares, which became central to the local economy.<br>Most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast to some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were not signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of fine lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and left to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>It is possible that this ewer was originally associated with a basin that has similar decoration. It is painted throughout with brownish-gold lustre on a cream glaze. The slightly tapering body is decorated with a fret of low-relief lozenges, while mouldings in relief decorate the tall foot. The shape is based on a metal original.<br>It is lustred with stylised flowers inside the relief lozenges and everywhere else with rows of dot and stalk pattern. Inside the bowl wavy rays emanate from a large central dot at the bottom. The inside of the foot is glazed but not lustred.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.
C8|1|1|Lustreware was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The town of Manises, near Valencia, was the main centre for the production of lustreware in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The technique also flourished in other nearby towns.<br>Initially, most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast with some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were never signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and let to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>This large vase has a tall cylindrical shape with an everted rim. Four stout handles with raised ribs are fixed under the rim, providing support, and vertical ribs articulate the otherwise plain body of the vase. It is painted with blue pendants of stylised foliage tied in places with ribbon bows, outlined by creamy white unpainted areas, beyond which the whole surface is lustred in a pale coppery tone.<br>The upper edge of the rim is painted all round in blue with a series of half circles. Within this is a concentric circle of scrolled foliage and a plain circle in lustre. The interior is glazed but not painted or lustred.<br>Silver, gold or brown lustre effects were achieved by varying the quantities of silver or copper in the lustre recipe, while the cream-coloured glaze indicates the use of less tin than a white glaze.<br>Vases of similar shape and strength are still made in southern Italy where they are used as privies.
C10|1|1|Lustreware was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh century by North African Muslim potters, who had initially settled in Murcia and, by the thirteenth century, in Malaga. The town of Manises, near Valencia, was the main centre for the production of lustreware in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The technique also flourished in other nearby towns.<br>Initially, most of the potters were Muslim working for Christian entrepreneurs. However, in contrast with some later lustreware produced in Italy, Spanish examples were never signed, and therefore it is not possible to associate surviving pieces with the names recorded in documents.<br>The production of lustreware was a highly skilled process that involved several stages and a number of artisans. The wares were turned or moulded in clay and let to dry. At this stage, some of them were painted with cobalt blue motifs and fired a first time —the biscuit firing. The pieces were then coated with an opaque mixture of oxides of tin and lead mixed with a special sand and salt. Tin was an expensive commodity, the quantity of which determined the whiteness of the glaze. The second firing in the kiln vitrified the tin glaze and revealed the cobalt blue decoration underneath. The next step of the process was the addition of lustre, a mixture of metals such as copper and silver oxides, combined with red earth and vinegar. Wares were fired for a third and last time in a reducing atmosphere at a lower temperature that allowed the metals to fix on their surface. Finally, polishing produced an iridescent effect.<br>This low-footed trencher or plate has a slight moulding around the rim. It is painted in a deep coppery red lustre on a creamy glaze with a highly stylised spray of pinks at its centre. Around the edge there is a wave pattern from which spring six stylised floral sprays. The underside is painted in lustre with five concentric circles arranged in two groups with a wreath of stylised foliage sprays between them. The trencher’s low foot is painted on the exterior in the same lustre tonality. The inside of the foot is glazed.
C11|1|1|This exquisitely painted trencher is attributed to the exceptionally talented and inventive maiolica painter known as Maestro Jacopo, who worked in the small and exclusive maiolica workshop at Cafaggiolo, a Medici villa north of Florence. The workshop was established in 1498 by two potters from Montelupo, Piero and Stefano di Dimitri Schiavone. It used a stylised ‘SP’ mark that may have been devised with reference to its founders. The workshop produced painted maiolica of great quality until around the mid-sixteenth century. Jacopo is thought to have been active for a brief period, from about 1510 to 1515. His name is known through a plate inscribed on the reverse, ‘japo’ (short for Jacopo) ‘in cafagg[i]uolo’ (V&A, inv. C.2151-1910).<br>The Wallace Collection’s low-footed circular trencher is almost flat, with a slight depression at its centre. It is painted with a symmetrical arrangement of grotesque ornament in orange, yellow, white, green and red-brown against a dark blue ground, within an orange border ornamented with a continuous band of white beading shaded in blue. The grotesque decoration comprises a pair of opposed winged satyrs blowing horns, the corucopiae on which they are seated flanking a central trophy of arms surmounted by a terminal female figure holding up a cartouche topped by a mask, a vase flanked by opposed swans, and an ox skull. Foliate ornament, beads and swags enrich the composition. The back is glazed off-white and painted with two groups of blue concentric circles, each incorporating an orange circle. In the centre it has in blue the stylised Cafaggiolo workshop monogram ‘SP’ crossed by a paraph.<br>At the time when this trencher was produced, symmetrically arranged, fanciful ornament comprising motifs derived from the decorative elements of Classical Antiquity, such as the satyrs, military trophy, masks and beadwork seen here, was very fashionable with the Italian cultural elite. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, came to dominate maiolica production around the first decade of the sixteenth century. It was one component of the iconography that drew its inspiration from Classical Antiquity and came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.<br>Elements of the grotesque ornament on the trencher are comparable to those on the signed plate in the Victoria and Albert Museum mentioned above and closely comparable to that on further pieces in the same museum that are attributed to Jacopo and have the Cafaggiolo workshop monogram (Victoria and Albert Museum, invs 1726–1855, C.2153-1910 and C.2152-1910).<br>Jacopo was an unusually inventive maiolica painter. Evidence of this is provided by two works attributed to him in the Victoria and Albert Museum, both with the Cafaggiolo workshop monogram. On one, in a rare instance on maiolica, he took inspiration from a sculpture, a marble figure of St George by Donatello, then in the Orsanmichele church in nearby Florence (inv. 1726-1855, mentioned above). The other, Jacopo’s best-known piece, depicts a maiolica painter at work in a refined environment, observed by a young couple who are probably wealthy patrons (Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 1717-1855). It is an early example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. It has been interpreted as reflecting the pottery painter’s artistic and social aspirations.
C12|1|1|This low-footed bowl is attributed to North-Central Italy, possibly Cafaggiolo in Tuscany, around 1520–25. A small and exclusive maiolica workshop was established at Cafaggiolo, a Medici villa north of Florence, by two potters from Montelupo, Piero and Stefano di Dimitri Schiavone, in 1498. The workshop produced painted maiolica of great quality until around the mid-sixteenth century. It used a stylised ‘SP’ mark that may have been devised with reference to its founders. The mark is not painted on this bowl.<br>The bowl is painted in blue, yellow, green, red-brown and manganese purple with a youth in Classical armour who holds a sword, stands on a plinth, turned slightly to his right, and is surrounded by grotesque ornament on a white ground densely embellished with small dark blue dots. The grotesque ornament comprises a pair of putti (winged boys) balancing on foliate scrolls as they join hands above the youth’s head, military trophies and fanciful snake-like creatures, the whole surmounted by a ribbon-like swag. The narrow rim is painted orange. The underside of the bowl is thinly glazed in white. It is painted within the foot ring with a central red-brown fret-like motif surrounded by four pairs of opposed blue scrolls and around the bowl with stylised green tendrils with blue flowers and red-brown fruit.<br>The youth’s location on a plinth and his pose suggest that he may be being celebrated for a military achievement. They also create the impression that he may be represented as a statue, made in celebration of his military prowess.<br>At the time when this bowl was produced, symmetrically arranged, fanciful ornament comprising motifs derived from the decorative elements of Classical Antiquity, such as the putti and military trophies seen here, was fashionable with the Italian cultural elite. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important contributory factor to the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament incorporating symmetrically arranged fantastical creatures and stylised foliage. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was a popular component of maiolica production in the early sixteenth century. It was one element of the iconography that drew its inspiration from Classical Antiquity and came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.
C13|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl was made in Central Italy, possibly at Siena in Tuscany, around 1510 to 1520. Sienese potters were able to produce ceramics to a high standard by the 1480s, as evidenced by tile pavements in two of the city’s churches. The tile pavement in the Piccolomini Library of Siena Cathedral may have been laid as early as around 1495–7. The tiles incorporate the deep red characteristic of Sienese maiolica. By the early sixteenth century Siena had attracted several potters from Faenza in Emilia-Romagna, including Benedetto di Giorgio, whose name is on a plate in the Victoria and Albert Museum dating to around 1510. The tile pavement in the Petrucci Palace in Siena, laid around 1509–13, is likely to have been made locally.<br>At the centre of the bowl’s well two naked girls standing on grass embrace against an orange background. The wall of the well is white. The rim is painted with symmetrically placed grotesque ornament in orange, yellow, green, blue and white on a dark blue ground, the motifs on the left and right sides mirroring each other. There are military trophies at 12 and 6 o’ clock. On either side, the motifs in descending order are an axe, a horn, a dolphin, a horn with cymbals, and a rabbit, interspersed with foliate ornament and books. The military trophy at 6 o’clock includes a plaque inscribed ‘SPQR’.<br>At the time when this bowl was produced, symmetrically arranged, fanciful ornament comprising motifs derived from the decorative elements of Classical Antiquity, such as the military trophies and dolphins seen here, was very fashionable with the Italian cultural elite. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, came to dominate maiolica production around the first decade of the sixteenth century. It was one component of the iconography that drew its inspiration from Classical Antiquity and came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.<br>Close ties between Rome and Siena contributed to Sienese patrons’ early and considerable enthusiasm for grotesque ornament, which was well established in Siena by the time that this bowl was produced. Pinturicchio and Raphael, both of whom had studied the Golden House grotesques first-hand, both worked in Siena on the designs for the frescoes in the Piccolomini Library of around 1503–8, which incorporated grotesques, and these may have influenced the tile pavement in the Petrucci Palace, produced soon afterwards.<br>The inscription SPQR on the plaque represented on C13 is an abbreviation for Senātus Populusque Rōma and reinforces the ‘alla antica’ theme of the bowl. The central subject is unusual and its significance is unclear.
C14|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl may have been made in Pesaro, on the Adriatic coast of the Marche region of Italy. It dates to the first decade of the sixteenth century. Around the time that it was made, maiolica production in Pesaro was in a period of decline, both for political reasons and because of the deaths of some important potters. Maiolica production would revive in Pesaro in the 1540s, after Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, made the city the focus of court life in place of Urbino, entrenching a situation that had been set in motion a few years earlier under Francesco Maria della Rovere.<br>The centre of the bowl’s well is painted with two naked putti mounted back-to-back on a dun-coloured, left-facing prancing horse. They dominate the foreground and are set in a low, hilly, yellow and green landscape with stylised trees below an extensive white and blue sky. The well wall is painted in bianco sopra bianco with a repeating pattern of interlacing pointed arches with broad arrow-heads in the interspaces. The wide rim is painted with a wreath of acanthus foliage in dark blue with pale blue highlights and yellow fruit on an orange ground. The outer edge of the rim has an inner blue and an outer white encircling line. The underside is glazed white and painted with three groups of concentric blue circles, one at the rim edge, one at the junction of the rim and the well, and one encircling the well base.<br>While the subject of the bowl is unusual and its significance unclear, the ‘all antica’ influence is evident in the depiction of the putti and the acanthus wreath border. The term bianco sopra bianco describes decoration in opaque white on an off-white glaze.
C15|1|1|Against a dark blue background, this shallow, low-footed bowl is painted with the bust of a young woman who looks to her left with a slightly bemused expression. Her auburn hair is plaited in an arc across the top of her head. She wears a white cap embroidered in blue and brown and a brown cloak with touches of green, yellow, grey and opaque white that is tied at her left shoulder. A cream scroll, inscribed in blue with the name 'Lucretia', passes behind her shoulders and rises curvaceously on either side of her head. The bowl's underside has a bluish-white glaze.<br>This bowl is attributed to either Castel Durante or Urbino. Castel Durante, now called Urbania, was an important pottery production centre in the sixteenth century. Within the Duchy of Urbino in the Marche region of Italy, it is quite close to the small but prestigious town of Urbino, the seat of the della Rovere dukes of Urbino. Urbino was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Some leading figures involved in the production of maiolica there came from Castel Durante.<br>The bowl is an example of a type of maiolica known as 'belle donne' ('beautiful women'). The concept of 'belle donne' maiolica has its origins in metallic medals from Classical antiquity that celebrated virtuous women. In emulation of these medals, similar medals were produced in Renaissance Italy. Comparably, 'belle donne' maiolica refers back in various ways to the Classical origin of this type of representation. Emulation of the style of Classical antiquity as understood in the Italian Renaissance is termed 'all'antica'.<br>While some 'belle donne' maiolica depicts specific heroines of Classical antiquity, other examples extoll the beauty and virtue of local contemporaries. Many examples inscribed with names in use in Renaissance Italy are not portraits of individual women, but generic depictions. While some were probably commissioned, perhaps by suitors wishing to flatter the subject of their affections, others are likely to have been produced speculatively for the general market. See also C17, C19 and C21.<br>Lucretia is a semi-legendary heroine from Classical antiquity who died around 508 BCE. In his 'History of Rome' the Roman historian Livy gave an account of how Lucretia, who was renowned for her virtue, killed herself to preserve her honour after being raped by Sextus Tarquin, a son of the King of Rome. These events were the immediate cause of the revolution that resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Roman Republic.<br>During the Renaissance, Lucretia was celebrated for her virtue in choosing death rather than living with the shame of her dishonour. The embroidered cap worn by the young woman depicted on the bowl is contemporary. The bowl may have been made speculatively rather than commissioned for a particular woman named Lucretia. Either way, the recipient of such a gift may well have understood it to be a compliment to her virtue.
C16|1|1|This large ewer stand is thought to have been made in Cafaggiolo or Gagliano in Tuscany around 1545–55. The small and exclusive maiolica workshop at Cafaggiolo, a Medici villa north of Florence, was established in 1498 by two potters from Montelupo, Piero and Stefano di Dimitri Schiavone. The workshop produced maiolica of great quality until around the mid-sixteenth century. It used a stylised ‘SP’ mark that may have been devised with reference to its founders. The mark was also used by a workshop at the Ubaldini villa in Gagliano, not far from Cafaggiolo. This ewer stand is not marked.<br>The colours of this piece are blue, dark brown, orange, yellow and green. In the small central recess of the ewer stand the winged horse Pegasus is depicted ascending a vertical precipice, with a flat landscape in the distance. Beyond the two raised moulded bands encircling the centre of the stand, the surface of the well, which has a further raised, moulded band, is painted with a repeating pattern comprising five pairs of interlacing yellow and brown oak branches on a predominantly pale green ground with five blue and five brown regularly placed insertions. The flanged rim edge is yellow. The underside is glazed pink, and much white glaze from the front has run over it. There are two holes near the top for suspending the stand for storage or display.<br>Maiolica sets comprising an ewer and shallow ewer stand were made in considerable numbers in sixteenth-century Italy, but the stands have survived in far greater numbers than their more vulnerable companion ewers. The sets would have been used for hand rinsing during dining.<br>The oak-leaf and acorn pattern depicted on C16 was described by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. He called the pattern ‘cerquate’, referencing the oak tree, a flattering allusion to the oak tree emblem of the Della Rovere dukes of Urbino. He wrote of the motif that, ‘These are much used among us for the veneration and duty that we owe to the Oak Tree, in the shade of which we live happily, so much so that one can call it painting in the Urbino style’. The oak-leaf pattern was fashionable from the mid-1520s, especially in the Urbino area, but it was also used on maiolica produced elsewhere, for example on a large dish made in the workshop of Maestro Ludovico in Venice around 1540 (Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 4438-1858). As on the Wallace Collection’s ewer stand, on flatware the pattern usually covers much of the surface, except for a small central roundel. The motif was also moulded in relief, for example on C18 in the Wallace Collection.
C17|1|1|This shallow, low-footed bowl is painted with the bust of a young woman whose hair is in a net and who wears a ruff collar with open drawstrings. A scroll passes behind her shoulders and rises to loop on either side of her head. On one side it is inscribed 'La Bella' ('The Beautiful') and on the other side, 'Livia'. The background is dark blue, and the other colours are yellow, orange, grey and black. The bowl's underside has an off-white glaze and is painted around the rim with two yellow lines.<br>This bowl is an exemplary example of a type of maiolica known as 'belle donne' ('beautiful women'). The concept of 'belle donne' maiolica has its origins in metallic medals from Classical antiquity that celebrated virtuous women. In emulation of these medals, similar medals were produced in Renaissance Italy. Comparably, 'belle donne' maiolica refers back in various ways to the Classical origin of this type of representation. Emulation of the style of Classical antiquity as understood in the Italian Renaissance is termed 'all'antica'.<br>While some 'belle donne' maiolica depicts specific heroines of Classical antiquity, other examples extoll the beauty and virtue of local contemporaries. Many examples inscribed with names in use in Renaissance Italy are not portraits of individual women, but generic depictions. While some were probably commissioned, perhaps by suitors wishing to flatter the subject of their affections, others are likely to have been produced speculatively for the general market. See also C15, C19 and C21.<br>The name Livia has a Classical resonance. Livia was the name of the Roman emperor Augustus's wife, who was empress from 27 BCE until 14 AD. The name was popular in sixteenth-century Italy. The Livia depicted on this bowl wears contemporary dress and the piece may be an example of speculative production.
C19|1|1|Against a dark blue background, the plate is painted with the bust of a young woman who is turned slightly to her left and looks ahead and a little to her right. Her fair hair is worn with a central parting and plaited at the front. She wears a yellow turban with a green and black jewel attached to it at the centre front. Her white blouse is embroidered at the collar with blue thread and the bodice of her dress is coloured green, orange and yellow with a blue border and an applied white trim attached at either shoulder. A cream scroll, inscribed in blue 'Diamante Bella' ('Beautiful Diamond'), passes behind her neck and extends curvaceously on either side of her head. The plate's underside has an off-white glaze. It is painted in blue with the date 1534 in the centre of the shallow foot and in the border with four stylized floral scrolls alternating with four diamond-shaped motifs, each with six symmetrically placed petal-like projections. There is a post-production hole for suspension above the jewel on the young woman's turban.<br>This plate was made in Italy, perhaps in Tuscany or the Marche region. In the sixteenth century, Siena, Montelupo and Cafaggiolo in Tuscany and Urbino, Castel Durante (modern Urbania) and Pesaro in the Marche were important maiolica-producing towns.<br>The plate is an exemplary example of a type of maiolica known as 'belle donne' ('beautiful women'). The concept of 'belle donne' maiolica has its origins in metallic medals from Classical antiquity that celebrated virtuous women. In emulation of these medals, similar medals were produced in Renaissance Italy. Comparably, 'belle donne' maiolica refers back in various ways to the Classical origin of this type of representation. Emulation of the style of Classical antiquity as understood in the Italian Renaissance is termed 'all'antica'.<br>While some 'belle donne' maiolica depicts specific heroines of Classical antiquity, other examples extoll the beauty and virtue of local contemporaries. Many examples inscribed with names in use in Renaissance Italy are not portraits of individual women, but genetic depictions. While some were probably commissioned, perhaps by suitors wishing to flatter the subject of their affections, others are likely to have been produced speculatively for the general market. The young woman depicted on this plate wears contemporary dress. The plate may have been made speculatively rather than commissioned for a particular woman named Diamante. See also C15, C17 and C21.
C20|1|1|This plate may have been made at Castel Durante, part of the duchy of Urbino in the Marche region of Italy; it was lustred at Gubbio. Castel Durante, now called Urbania, was an important pottery production centre in the sixteenth century. Situated within the Duchy of Urbino, it is quite close to Urbino. Some leading figures involved in the production of maiolica in Urbino came from Castel Durante. Gubbio is a small town in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. In the current state of knowledge, if lacking evidence such as a workshop mark or inscription, it may not be possible to determine whether a piece with both gold and ruby lustre was made in Deruta or Gubbio.<br>Cupid stands in the central, slightly convex medallion, with a quiver at his hip and a trident in his hands. He steps to his left while looking to his right. Behind him, a low green and blue mountainous landscape lies under a large blue and yellow sky. The convex wall encircling the medallion is painted in golden and ruby lustre. The wide, convex rim is decorated with portative organs alternating with pipes and drums on a dark blue ground. The organ bases divide the composition into four parts at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. The instruments are painted in grisaille, with the exception of the organ bellows, which are in gold and ruby lustre, and detailing in ruby lustre near the organ bases. The fine, ribbon-like white scrolls amongst the instruments are in graffito, scratched through the blue ground with a fine pointed tool. The outer edge of the rim is painted in ruby lustre. The underside is thinly glazed white, the warm earth colour of the clay showing through it. It is painted in ruby lustre with two foliage sprays alternating with two lozenges, each incorporating a diagonal cross.<br>Lustred bowls with Cupid at the centre, some with trophies of musical instruments on their wide rims, were being produced in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio by the mid-1520s. There are plates that are closely comparable to C20 in other collections.
C21|1|1|This shallow, low-footed bowl is attributed to Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the seat of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. At the time when this bowl was made, in the mid-sixteenth century, maiolica production was prolifice in the Duchy.<br>The subject of this bowl is Cleopatra, a Hellenistic Queen of Egypt, who killed herself in 30 BCE following the defeat of her lover Mark Antony and herself by the Romans under Octavian and Mark Antony's subsequent suicide. The bowl shows the moment when Cleopatra applied to her breast one of the poisonous asps (venomous snakes) that would kill her. The bowl's colours are blue, red brown, buff, yellow, green, and opaque white. Its underside is unevenly glazed white, faintly tinged with blue, with much discolouring.<br>Cleopatra's preference for death over humiliation and her loyalty in love came to be regarded as virtues. Her fate was a source of inspiration for sixteenth-century writers and artists. This bowl is an example of a type of maiolica ware that was, to judge by surviving examples, extremely popular in sixteenth-century Italy: 'Belle donne', or 'Beautiful women' maiolica, which usually took the form of bowls or plates. See also C15, C17 and C19.<br>The concept of 'belle donne' maiolica had its origins in metallic medals from Classical antiquity that celebrated virtuous women. In emulation of these medals, similar medals were produced in Renaissance Italy. Similarly, 'belle donne' maiolica referred back in various ways to the Classical origin of this type of representation. Emulation of the style of Classical antiquity as understood in the Italian Renaissance is termed 'all'antica'.<br>While some 'belle donne' maiolica depicts specific heroines of Classical antiquity, other examples extoll the beauty and virtue of local contemporaries. Many of those inscribed with names in use in Renaissance Italy are not portraits of individual women, but genetic depictions. While some were probably commissioned, perhaps by suitors wishing to flatter the subject of their affections, others were probably produced speculatively for the general market.
C22|1|1|Castelli is a remote town high in the mountains of the Abruzzi region of Italy. In the seventeenth century the Grue family established an important maiolica-making dynasty there that continued production through much of the eighteenth century. This dish is attributed to Francesco Grue (1618–1673), the first member of the family associated with maiolica production and one of the most prominent of the Castelli maiolica painters.<br>Francesco Grue favoured the autumnal palette seen on this distinctive dish. It is one of three bearing the arms of the Quinzi family of L’Aquila which seem to be from the same service. The intriguing central scene is an Allegory of the Sense of Sight. It is encircled by a white ground grotesque border comprising scrolling ornament populated by symmetrically arranged human and semi-human figures and dogs. The woman looking at her reflection in a mirror, in the foreground of the central scene, personifies Sight. An eagle, a bird with exceptional sight, looks towards her. Beyond a bridge over water in the middle ground, God indicates the tree of the knowledge of good and bad to Adam and Eve in a scene inspired by the biblical book of Genesis.<br>The central scene appears to derive from two prints after Maarten de Vos’s engraving of the Sense of Sight from a set depicting the Senses. The foreground is a reversal of Raphael Sadeler’s engraving of 1581. The other elements may be taken from a set by Adriaen Collaert or from a version by Nicolaes de Bruyn. The Grue workshop probably produced a pricked drawing of the scene as depicted on C22 to transfer the composition to the dish.
C25|1|1|This figure was possibly made in Gubbio, a small town in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop.<br>Apparently serene, this image of the Virgin and Child enthroned under a canopy in fact alludes to Christ’s Crucifixion, for the Child holds a bird, symbol of the soul’s flight after death. Small devotional reliefs, displayed in homes and on street corners, were popular in Italy until quite recently. This shrine is one of only four devotional reliefs set within Gothic niches to survive in maiolica. The small Umbrian town of Gubbio was renowned for its lustrewares at this period, especially the distinctive red used here together with a golden brown lustre. Maiolica reliefs decorated with lustre are extremely rare.
C26|1|1|This ewer stand is attributed to Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>Maiolica sets comprising an ewer and shallow ewer stand were made in considerable numbers in sixteenth-century Italy, but the stands have survived in far greater numbers than their more vulnerable companion ewers. The sets would have been used for hand rinsing during dining.<br>The background colour of this ewer stand is orange-red, while the decoration is in white, blue, yellow and green. Within the central retaining ring there is a profile bust of a young man, facing left. Beyond the yellow ring, the well is decorated at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock with an acanthus flower in a star-shaped compartment within a circle, alternating with an acanthus spray. Fourteen symmetrically placed flower heads linked by foliage sprays encircle the rim border. The colours are blue, yellow, green and brown.The underside is glazed white and painted with many blue concentric circles interrupted in three places by a wider orange-red one. There is an unidentified mark at the centre.
C27|1|1|This glorious large dish was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware. The young woman depicted on this early example epitomises the ideal of feminine beauty as immortalised by such artists as Perugino and Pinturicchio, who were working locally to great acclaim around the turn of the century. Perhaps the dish was a betrothal gift, because the inscription on the scroll means ‘My heart has only hope’, and the pendant may house a portrait of her lover or a mirror showing his reflection.
C28|1|1|This ewer stand is attributed to Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>Maiolica sets comprising an ewer and shallow ewer stand were made in considerable numbers in sixteenth-century Italy, but the stands have survived in far greater numbers than their more vulnerable companion ewers. The sets would have been used for hand rinsing during dining.<br>This ewer stand is painted in golden lustre and pale blue. Within the central retaining ring of this ewer a stag is seated on the ground, flanked by two cone-shaped trees, beneath seven rays. The outer edge of the ring is encircled by a running cross motif. The outer section of the shallow well is encircled by a pattern of rays emanating from the centre, with a stylized flower between each of the rays. The rim border is encircled by a band of linked, horizontally placed ovals flanked by single sprigs, perhaps representing stylised buds. There is a pink glaze on the underside, which is embellished with four widely spaced concentric circles in golden lustre.<br>The ray pattern encircling the ring is known in Italian as denti di lupo (wolves’ teeth). It was widely used on Deruta lusterware in the first quarter of the sixteenth century and, as here, was usually accompanied by stylized plant motifs.
C29|1|1|This small, broad-rimmed bowl is attributed to Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The bowl is painted in golden lustre and pale blue with a central flower head in the shape of a cross, each space between the petals containing a half flower head. The central medallion is encircled by a band of overlapping scales. On the rim border rays emanate towards the rim, each ray alternating with a single stylized flower. The underside has an off-white glaze and is painted with three concentric circles of golden lustre.<br>The ray pattern encircling the rim border is known in Italian as denti di lupo (wolves’ teeth). It was widely used on Deruta lusterware in the first quarter of the sixteenth century and, as here, was usually accompanied by stylized plant motifs.
C30|1|1|This plate is attributed to Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The surface of the plate is almost flat. It is painted in blue and with gold and ruby lustre. In the central medallion, within a polygonal compartment, the letter ‘A’ is suspended above a chequered band from which seven flames radiate upwards. The medallion is encircled by radial petal motifs, each enclosing a diminishing six-part mound and alternating with a single stylized leaf. Small plant motifs occupy the background. The underside is glazed white and painted with a concentric band of ruby lustre within the foot ring, three just beyond the foot ring and two adjacent to the rim.
C31|1|1|This ewer stand was made in Deruta or Gubbio, small towns in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware. In the early sixteenth century Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. In the current state of knowledge, if lacking evidence such as a workshop mark or inscription, it is not possible to determine whether a piece with both gold and ruby lustre was made in Deruta or Gubbio.<br>Maiolica sets comprising an ewer and shallow ewer stand were made in considerable numbers in sixteenth-century Italy, but the stands have survived in far greater numbers than their more vulnerable companion ewers. The sets would have been used for hand rinsing during dining. Many ewer stands made in Deruta depict half-length portraits of young women.<br>Within the central retaining ring of this ewer there is a profile bust of a young woman, facing left, depicted in gold and ruby lustre against a dark blue and apple green background. Beyond the golden lustred ring, the well is ornamented with gadroons encircled by a band of interlinked circular recesses. The rim border is painted with a continuous line of stylized flower buds. The underside is glazed buff and painted in ruby lustre with concentric circles in four groups of three circles.
C32|1|1|This spectacular large, lustred display dish was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The dish is coloured blue and white with gold lustre, a typical palette for large Deruta display dishes of the first half of the sixteenth century. At the centre of the dish a Turkish lancer rides his horse to the left in a low landscape with an extensive sky. A narrow, lustred wall separates this scene from the broad rim, which is divided by radial sprays with buds, each flanked by a zigzag lines on gold grounds, into six panels filled alternatively with scale-pattern or a palmette. The narrow rim edge is lustred. The underside has a low foot ring and is covered in yellow lead glaze.<br>The figure of a turbaned horseman often occurs on large Deruta dishes, though the majority are not lustred. The Turkish horseman dishes may have been made at Deruta from as early as the 1520s to around 1560. It has been suggested that they may have been produced from around 1529, when the Ottoman siege of Vienna, the capital of the Hapsburg Austrian Empire, was successfully repulsed.<br>The horse depicted on this plate is similar in style to those on a plate in the British Museum that is dated 1554 and attributed as perhaps being by the circle of Giacomo Mancini. Giacomo Mancini was a member of a longstanding, leading Deruta pottery family. Known also as ‘El Frate’ (‘The Friar’), he may be first recorded in a document dating from 1540 and is thought to have died by 1581.<br>Variants of this style of sectional border decoration were in use on large, lustred dishes made in Deruta for several decades in the earlier sixteenth century. Similar borders also occur with a wider range of colours on non-lustred dishes from Deruta, such as a dish depicting a Turkish horseman with the date range of around 1520–60 in the British Museum (inv. 1855,3-13,3). The earliest firmly datable example of a sectional border on a large Deruta dish is an example in the British Museum that can be dated by the coat of arms depicted to 1522–3 (British Museum, inv. 1855,12–1,62), while the latest datable example has a coat of arms as borne from 1559 to 1565 (Musée Ariana, Geneva).
C33|1|1|This spectacular large, lustred display dish was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The dish is coloured blue and white with gold lustre, a typical palette for large Deruta display dishes of the first half of the sixteenth century. At the centre of the dish, against a blue background and in front of a low, mountainous blue landscape, stands a barefoot young woman with a central parting and hair tied back, dressed in full-length Classical costume depicted in lustre. She supports a free-standing lustre column with her left hand and, with her right arm held aloft behind her, holds a spear in her right hand. The scene is bordered to left and right by a vertical spray of delicate golden foliage on a white background. A narrow, lustred wall separates this scene from the broad rim, which is divided by lustre panels, each subdivided by two blue lines and incorporating rows of blue dots, into six panels filled alternatively with scale-pattern or a palmette. The narrow rim edge is lustred. The underside has a low foot ring and is covered in yellow lead glaze, with a single curling leaf outlined in blue on the well back.<br>The woman holding a column and spear is an allegorical figure, representing the qualities of constancy and fortitude. The iconography of a human figure shown with an attribute personifying an abstract concept derives from Classical antiquity, as does the woman’s costume depicted here. Such emulation of the style of Roman antiquity as understood in the Italian Renaissance is termed all’antica.<br>Variants of the style of sectional border decoration seen here were in use on large, lustred dishes made in Deruta for several decades in the earlier sixteenth century. Similar borders also occur with a wider range of colours on non-lustred dishes from Deruta, such as a dish depicting a Turkish horseman with the date range of around 1520–60 in the British Museum (inv. 1855,3-13,3). The earliest firmly datable example of a sectional border on a large Deruta dish is an example in the British Museum that can be dated by the coat of arms depicted to 1522–3 (British Museum, inv. 1855,12–1,62), while the latest datable example has a coat of arms as borne from 1559 to 1565 (Musée Ariana, Geneva).
C34|1|1|This large dish was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The colours of the dish are blue, yellow, green and opaque white on a thin glaze much stained with turquoise. The well is painted with a coat of arms on a beribboned shield edged with grotesque masks and acanthus buds and with the head of a boy in place of a crest. The coat of arms is on a background of flowers painted in ‘bianco sopra bianco’, opaque white on an off-white glaze. The broad border is painted in the same technique with a scale-work pattern and has a flanged rim. The underside is covered with a greenish-yellow lead glaze. There are two holes for suspension on the foot ring.<br>The coat of arms (azure, on a bend argent three trilobate leaves vert) is unidentified.<br>‘Bianco sopra bianco’ (‘white on white’) decoration was described and illustrated by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. He referred to it as ‘Sopra Bianchi’ and remarked that it was a type of decoration associated with Urbino. He may have been referring to the Duchy of Urbino rather than the town of Urbino specifically. Its earliest known use is on a service made for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and his wife, Beatrice of Aragon, in about 1486–88 in Pesaro in the Duchy of Urbino.
C35|1|1|This lustred plate was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The plate is painted in gold lustre and dark blue on a white ground. Within the slight hollow at its centre, patterned petal-like motifs radiate from a central gold disc. The wide border is decorated with a repeating pattern of arabesques in gold lustre outlined in dark blue, with three encircling rows of eight regularly placed dark blue flower heads, the largest forming the outer row adjacent to the rim, the medium-sized closest to the well, and the smallest just beyond the latter and alternating with them. The rim is lustred in gold. The underside has a foot ring and is glazed white with the warm colour of the clay showing through.<br>This type of decoration is widespread on Deruta lustreware and takes inspiration from the arabesque ornament on Islamic inlaid metalwork as well as flowers derived from Valencian lusterware (see C1, for example). It appears to have been in use from at least the 1520s to the 1550s.
C36|1|1|This large, shallow monochrome dish, coloured blue and white, depicts scenes from the so-called ‘Quos ego’ (‘Whom I’) engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi within a border of beads comprising a repeating pattern of a single long oval bead alternating with two round ones. The largest, rectangular central panel shows Neptune, god of the sea, holding a trident and standing in his shell chariot drawn by hippocampi, creatures that have the fore parts of a horse and the hind parts of a fish. In the scene above on the left, Juno, the leading goddess of Olympus, sits on her chariot borne by two peacocks. She confronts Venus, goddess of love, who is shown on the right, seated on her chariot drawn by doves, with her son Cupid at her feet. Between them, in a spandrel, are the head and wings of a cherub. The scroll to the left of the central scene is inscribed AEOLVS IMMITIT VENTOS IVNÔE PRECÂE (Aeolus sends out the winds at the prayer of Juno). The scroll on the right is inscribed SOLATVR VENDEREM DICTIS PAT ER IPSE DOLĒ TEM (The father himself consoles the grieving Venus with words). The underside is covered with a yellow lead glaze over which has been painted the modern inscription ‘Quos Ego or Neptune appeasing the storm’. The foot-ring is pierced with two suspension holes. The rim was reduced at a later date and the same may be true of the foot ring.<br>Both the subject-matter and border of beads on this dish take their inspiration from Classical antiquity. Such emulation, as understood during the Italian Renaissance, is termed all’antica. The subject of the dish is taken the first century BCE Roman poet Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’, lines 34–156. Neptune is enraged to discover the storm at sea produced by the god of the winds, Aeolus, at Juno’s request. Juno supports the Greeks in their war against the Trojans and wishes to destroy the Trojan prince Aeneas’s ships. Venus, Aeneas’s mother, champions the Trojans. Neptune calms the winds, bringing an end to the storm and thus saving Aeneas and his companions. The scenes depicting Neptune, Juno and Venus, together with the inscriptions on the scrolls, are taken from Marcantonio Raimondi’s multi-scene engraving known as ‘Quos ego’ (‘Whom I’), which was made in 1516 after designs by Raphael. The print, one of Raimondi’s most ambitious compositions, was very popular with maiolica painters as a source for scenes and for individual figures. Some scenes, including those depicting Juno and Venus, were copied in reverse by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia soon after the print’s publication. On C36 they are depicted as arranged in Raimondi’s print. The words ‘Quos ego’ are taken from Book 1 of the ‘Aeneid’, line 135. These words were spluttered by Neptune in his anger about the storm. In the central scene on the dish, as in the print, Neptune calms the storm. Each of the three scenes on the dish shows the key motif from its print source, omitting additional elements.<br>The inscriptions shown on scrolls on the dish appear on rectangular cartouches on the print.
C37|1|1|This low-footed bowl was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware. The bowl was made in the longstanding Deruta pottery workshop of the Mancini family, one of the leading workshops in Deruta. It was probably made by Giacomo Mancini. Known also as ‘El Frate’ (‘The Friar’), he may be first recorded in a document dating from 1540 and is thought to have died by 1581. However, an S-shaped scroll with a line through it on the underside of the bowl could be the initial of the painter of the bowl, indicating that another member of the Mancini family painted the piece.<br>The interior of the shallow bowl is painted in orange, green, yellow and blue with what appears to be a courtship scene. On a tiled floor in front of a rocky landscape dotted with spindly plants, a young man stands at the centre, holding the hand of a young woman standing to his right. To his left, a seated musician plays a lute with a quill plectrum. Cupid, god of love, flies in from the right, aiming an arrow at the young man. The young man wears an orange slashed doublet over an undergarment with green sleeves, slashed yellow breeches and yellow hose, black shoes and an orange hat with a white plume. The young lady wears a yellow and green dress with orange sleeves. The lutanist is dressed in a green and yellow tunic over an under garment with orange sleeves, an orange hat and orange boots. The tiles are orange, green, yellow, blue and white, the rocks blue and the sky predominantly white, becoming blue in the upper part. The rim is yellow. The underside is glazed off-white. It is painted in blue with an S-shaped scroll with a diagonal line through it at the centre of the foot, overlapping petals outlined in blue on the bowl base, encircling the foot, and a single row of x’s encircling the outer edge.<br>Love and courtship were popular themes on Renaissance maiolica. They were often expressed through the depiction of the associated busts of a couple, or symbolically, as clasped hands, known as the ‘fede’ (faith) motif, signifying faithful love and sometimes betrothal or the taking of marriage vows. A scene such as this is more unusual.<br>The bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas. Giacomo Mancini was influenced by potters from the Urbino tradition in favouring ‘istoriato’ maiolica. He favoured two shapes that were used predominantly by pottery painters of the Urbino school, and which were well suited to ‘istoriato’ decoration: large flat dishes with a small rim (C39 is an example) and low-footed bowls. The palette on this bowl also occurs on a tin-glazed earthenware pavement made by Giacomo Mancini and dating to 1563 in the sacristy of the church of San Pietro in Perugia.
C38|1|1|This roundel may have been made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The centre of the roundel is painted with a yellow shield bearing the arms of the Medici family of Florence, represented as five orange balls surmounted by a blue ball with three yellow fleur-de-lis. The arms are described in heraldic terms as ‘or six balls in orle, five orange (representing gules) the one in chief azure, three fleurs-de-lis of the first’. The shield is surmounted by a cross beneath a clerical hat with eight tassels on either side, all in yellow. The scrolled edges of the shield are green. The border of the roundel is decorated with white grotesques shaded in blue against a dark blue ground. On a continuous foliate scroll the carefully balanced grotesques comprise a pair of opposed winged monsters at 12.0’clock and a winged mask at 6.0’clock with opposed birds, winged monsters, flowers and heads in profile in descending order between them. The flanged rim is painted yellow. The back is thinly glazed in off-white. The roundel is pierced with three holes that were made near the top edge after the final firing.<br>At the time when this roundel was made the powerful Medici family ruled over the Florentine Republic in Tuscany. It was probably made when Cosimo de’ Medici was Duke of Florence. Although the presence of the cross above the shield of arms on the roundel indicates that the member of the Medici family represented here was an archbishop, he has not yet been identified. The roundel would probably have been one of a number attached to walls or ceilings to indicate the authority of the individual represented by the shield of arms within a designated area.
C39|1|1|This dish was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware. The dish was probably painted by Giacomo Mancini, whose family ran the longstanding Mancini pottery workshop, one of the leading workshops in Deruta. Giacomo Mancini, known also as ‘El Frate’ (‘The Friar’), may be first recorded in a document dating from 1540 and is thought to have died by 1581.<br>The dish is painted with a series of incidents from Canto XXII of Ludovico Ariosto’s epic romance ‘Orlando Furioso’. The setting is a mountainous landscape in France. Following the order of the narrative, in the centre of the middle ground the English knight Astolfo leads his horse Rabican and the Hippogriff, Ruggiero’s original mount. The scene in the left middle ground, below Pinabello’s castle, is probably intended to show Ruggiero overcoming Samsonet, the first of the four opponents he encounters near the castle. Ruggiero’s three remaining opponents, Grifon, Aquilant and Guidone, accidentally see the blinding light that radiates from Ruggiero’s magic shield, which he had thought covered. In the right foreground, two of them lie, stunned by the shield’s light, in front of Ruggiero’s beloved, Bradamante, and her mounted companions. In the left foreground Ruggiero hurls the magic shield into a well, ashamed that he has inadvertently vanquished three of his opponents through the light of the shield, whereas he had hoped to overpower them in armed combat. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, green, manganese purple and black. The rim is yellow. The underside is thinly glazed off-white, with the colour of the ground showing through in some places. The dish does not have a foot.<br>This dish is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas. Giacomo Mancini was influenced by potters from the Urbino tradition in favouring ‘istoriato’ maiolica. He favoured two shapes that were used predominantly by pottery painters of the Urbino school, and which were well suited to ‘istoriato’ decoration: large flat dishes with a small rim and low-footed bowls (see C37). While the depiction of the rocks and the background are close to signed works by ‘El Frate’, it is possible that the dish is by another member of the Mancini family, such as his cousin Paride Francioli.<br>The Italian writer and diplomat Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) is best known for ‘Orlando Furioso’, which was first published in 1516, although it wasn’t until 1532 that the extended, definitive third edition appeared. The poem’s popularity is reflected by the numerous examples of maiolica that derive their subjects from it. Scenes and heads of characters from the poem were painted on maiolica between the 1520s and the 1540s. For an example depicting heads see Wallace Collection C53.The painters who depicted scenes from the poem, sometimes as components of sets, include Francesco Xanto Avelli, Nicola da Urbino and Giacomo Mancini. Mancini, who may have been the painter of this dish, painted several pieces with scenes derived from woodcuts in an illustrated edition of the poem published in Venice in 1542 by Gabriele Giolito de’Ferrari. Some of these are dated 1545 and signed as painted by ‘El Frate’ in Deruta (for example, Victoria and Albert Museum, C.2198-1910).<br>The scene depicted on C39 is based on the woodcut at the head of Canto XXII in the 1542 illustrated edition of the poem. The painter has emphasized the location and drama of the scene by replacing the grove of trees in which the mounted Ruggiero contends with his unhorsed opponent on the left in the print with the castle looming precariously above them on the dish.
C40|1|1|This bowl was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>Against the white glaze ground, the well centre and broad border of this bowl are painted with stylised foliate scrolls and flowers in blue with gold lustre. There is a flower at the centre of the well and six more are evenly distributed around the border. The scrolls and flower petals are blue, while the many small leaves and the pairs of larger leaves between the flowers are filled with lustre. The well wall and rim are painted in gold lustre. The underside is glazed very pale pinkish white with much discolouring. The border is pierced near the rim with a single suspension hole.<br>This type of ornament, comprising slender blue shoots with many tiny leaves and four or six larger, serrated leaves in lustre is characteristic of Deruta production. It probably takes inspiration from Spanish lustred ceramics exported to Italy in the fifteenth century. A plate with similar decoration in the Petit Palais in Paris bears at its centre the arms of Pope Clement VII. From a service with the pope’s coat of arms, it is dated as having been made after 1523 but probably no later than 1534. Fragments excavated at Deruta testify to the fact that this type of foliate arabesque ornament was produced there over a long period.
C42|1|1|This shallow bowl was probably made in Urbino. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>The bowl is painted over the upper surface with symmetrically balanced grotesque ornament in grisaille on a dark blue ground. At the centre a rectangular plaque inscribed with the date 1526. Above it there is a winged mask below a vase of fruit, below it a vase set on three ball feet. A pair of outward-facing opposed griffon-like creatures flank the plaque and mask, their tails terminating at the top of the fruit-filled vase. The lower vase is flanked by a pair of inward-facing creatures with male heads and serpentine bodies, their tails intertwining with those of the griffon-like creatures above and terminating in leaves. Further foliate elements enrich the composition. The rim is yellow. The underside is glazed pinkish buff. The original low foot has been ground down to resemble a foot-ring.<br>This type of decoration, comprising carefully balanced ornament incorporating components such as the hybrid creatures, masks and foliage seen here, is known as ‘grotesque’ ornament. It takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style during the Renaissance. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style became known during the Renaissance as grotesque due to its having been found underground. It was one component of the iconography that came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients. Grotesque ornament was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century, a period when dark-ground grotesques became a popular motif on Italian Renaissance maiolica. Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante illustrated this style of ornament in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. He described it as ‘grotesche’ or ‘candelieri’ and observed that grotesques had almost fallen out of use at the time of writing.<br>This bowl is one of a group of pieces decorated with grotesques in a similar manner and dated between 1521 and 1531, all, or at least most of which John Mallet has proposed are probably by the same hand. The influence of Nicola da Urbino, who worked in Urbino, suggests Urbino as their place of production (J. V. G. Mallet and Franz Adrian Dreier, ‘The Hockemeyer Collection: Maiolica and Glass’, Bremen 1998, p. 230). Mallet has subsequently suggested that the so-called ‘Master of the Apollo Basin’ (see C85), who he considers worked mainly in Urbino, may have painted grotesques in the 1520s, among them possibly C42.<br>The bowl is virtually identical in dimension to a bowl in the British Museum with the same layout that is almost certainly by the same hand and is dated 1529. Their difference in dates strengthens an argument for their painter or painters using drawings or stencils that could remain with a workshop over a prolonged period and indicates that more than one painter could produce almost identical works. Pieces with the type of decoration of C42 have traditionally been attributed to Castel Durante, but there is a lack of convincing evidence from the 1520s to support this (see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A catalogue of the British Museum collection’, The British Museum Press 2009, cat. no. 217).
C43|1|1|This bowl was probably made in Urbino. The small but prestigious town, in the Duchy of Urbino in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>The bowl is painted over its upper surface in buff and white grisaille on a dark blue ground. In the well, a male bust in profile faces left. He wears Classical costume tied at the back of the neck and there is a laurel wreath on his head. In the border above, there is a scroll inscribed VRGILIO. MĀTOANA. Above this, at 12.00 o’clock, a winged cherub’s head is surmounted by the scrolled tail ends of a pair of opposed griffin-type creatures that confront each other in the border below the bust, separated by a vase positioned at 6 o’clock. The border is further enhanced with symmetrically placed floral scrolls. The rim is yellow. The underside is glazed in rather discoloured white.<br>The bowl pays tribute to the first century BCE Roman poet Virgil, whose epic poem ‘Aeneid’ was much appreciated during the Renaissance and a fruitful source of subject-matter for artists, including maiolica painters (see C36). The poet’s head is adorned with a laurel wreath, a mark of achievement in Greek and Roman culture, as a symbol of his literary prowess.<br>Comprising carefully balanced components such as the griffin-like creatures, winged head and foliage seen here, the style of decoration around the border is known as ‘grotesque’ ornament. It takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style during the Renaissance. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically, sometimes against a dark background colour. This style of ornament became known during the Renaissance as grotesque due to its having been found underground. It was one component of the iconography that came to be referred to as ‘alla’ antica’ – in the style of the ancients. Grotesque ornament was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century, a period when dark-ground grotesques became a popular motif on Italian Renaissance maiolica. Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante illustrated grotesque ornament in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. He called it ‘grotesche’ or ‘candelieri’ and observed that it had almost fallen out of use at the time of writing.<br>This all’antica bowl is doubly indebted to Classical antiquity, combining as it does a homage to Virgil with grotesque ornament.<br>Although not inscribed with a date, C43 can be dated approximately due to comparable pieces with a central male or female bust in profile and a grotesque border, which are inscribed with the date 1530 or 1531. A number of them are lustred and were made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio. While the female busts face right, the male busts face left. Two male examples in the Louvre wear laurel wreathes. This unlustred version has affinities with C42 and, like it, was probably made in Urbino.
C44|1|1|This delicately painted shallow trencher was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br><br>In the shallow well a youth in contemporary costume sits on a low stool on a grass knoll with an empty brown and yellow landscape behind him and an extensive yellow sky. He wears a flamboyant feathered hat, a quilted, wide-sleeved ochre upper garment, a pale blue undergarment, short pale blue breeches, a green belt, white hose tied below the knees and black shoes on his crossed feet. His right arm is outstretched, his right hand holding the strings of a suspended tambour. He looks down at the drum as he beats it with the drumstick held in his left hand. The scene is encircled by a band of alternating orange and yellow zig-zag ornament within an encircling white band. The broad border has a dark blue ground and is painted in buff, yellow, green and orange with a symmetrical pattern of repeating motifs comprising an open book at 12.00, 3.00, 6.00 and 9.00 o’clock alternating with a bird with outstretched wings below a pair of crossed shields, amid symmetrically distributed scrolling foliage and opposed horns. The underside is glazed white and painted with a pattern of blue petals radiating from the centre, interspersed and filled with orange dashes. At the centre of the low foot there is a blue circle spanned by a diagonal cross in orange, with a small orange circle in one of the quarters and a blue crescent shape. The outer edge of the foot is encircled by a dark blue line.<br><br>This finely painted trencher is closely comparable with a bowl depicting a man seated on a stool on a green sward playing a lute against a similar yellow background in the British Museum (inv. 1878,12-30,411), and a plate in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 46.85.35) that is dated 1520 that has closely comparable painting on the back to C44, and, unusually, has a yellow ground front border. All three pieces share a similar distribution of the front surface decoration into four zones. They are attributed to Faenza and share some characteristics with other pieces attributed to Faenza and dated around this period. Elements of the border decoration of C44, such as the horns and paired white discs had become standardised on the borders of Faenza decoration by the 1520s, usually, as here, on a dark blue ground. Fragments excavated in Faenza confirm the attribution of pieces with elements of decoration similar to that on C44 as having been produced in Faenza.<br><br>The motif of a circle spanned by a cross with a small circle in one quarter on the foot of C44 occurs on a number of pieces made in Faenza. This mark has intrigued ceramics historians since the nineteenth century, and it has been proposed as the workshop mark of several Faenza workshops. The earliest dated piece with the mark was made in 1519 and it often occurs on high quality pieces made in the 1520s. It has been interpreted as representing an inflatable ball, the small circle understood to depict a valve, and for that reason it is known as the ‘pallone’ (‘ball’) mark. Its presence on a number of pieces for which there are grounds for an attribution to the workshop of Piero and Paolo Bergantini, which was one of the most important in Faenza in the first half of the sixteenth century, suggests the possibility that C44 may have been made there.
C45|1|1|This plate has a pale blue (‘berettino’) glaze. The other main colour is dark blue. There are also pale yellow and touches of pale orange. The well is painted with a central spray of leaves within a star formed of two superimposed squares, beyond which there are dark blue dots on the ‘berettino’ ground. Beyond the low ‘berettino’ wall, the broad rim is decorated with a naked boy at 12.00, 3.00, 6.00 and 9.00 o’clock. The boys, two of them with quivers, alternate with hunting dogs wearing collars. Two dogs have caught rabbits, another is attacking a boar, and the fourth is crouching as it grips a deer’s tail. Interspersed among them are grotesque ornamental motifs including a cornucopia, a standard, shields, blank panels and foliage. The underside has a ‘berettino’ glaze. It is encircled by a band of dark blue foliage and has at its centre a mark in dark blue incorporating the letter B with the upright extended both upwards, to a cross with diagonal bars, and downwards.<br>The decoration of this plate is unusual and the mark on its back may not otherwise be known. Although it has a ‘berettino’ glaze, which was extensively used in Faenza at this period, the place of production of the plate is not known. ‘Berettino’ is a tin glaze tinted blue. The shade and density of the blue varies according to the quantity of cobalt used.<br>While naked boys engaged in various activities are not unusual on Italian Renaissance maiolica, their appearance in a hunting context in a grotesque border is unusual. The painter has drawn on two prints for the boys and animals. The boys are modelled on but reversals of the two winged putti in the foreground of Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving ‘Dancing Putti’ after Raphael. It is possible that the painter followed a reversed version of the print. The groups of animals are taken from a Florentine engraving of about 1460, although all but the dog gripping the deer’s tail are reversed on the plate. A derivative print exists with two of the groups of animals in the same sense as on the plate, but in it the dog gripping the deer’s tail is omitted, although the deer is included.
C46|1|1|This dish is painted with a group of eight naked boys, the two in the centre front winged putti or cupids, with hands linked dance in a circle on a platform framed by a swagged curtain in front of an elaborately ornamented arched doorway framing a mountainous landscape with a walled town. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, green, purple, black and opaque white. The underside is glazed pale buff with areas of discolouring. The low foot has been ground away to resemble a foot ring.<br>This dish is attributed to Francesco Xanto Avelli, familiarly known as Xanto. Much is known about the work of Xanto, due to the information that he inscribed on many of his works, the wide-ranging and imaginatively composed subjects that he painted to a high standard, and his prolific output. Xanto was from Rovigo in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, but by at least 1530 he was working in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In 1531 Xanto married into a family of Urbino potters. He is mentioned in Urbino documents until 1542, but he is not known to have had his own workshop.<br>Unusually for a maiolica painter, between 1530 and 1542 Xanto frequently signed and often dated his work, so that its’ develop during that period is well documented. This unsigned dish is attributed to Xanto working in Urbino around 1527-28. It is either a late example from the period during the 1520s when it is generally accepted that he was using the initials ‘F.R’ as a signature on some works or an early example of the style adopted around 1527-30 on pieces attributed to Xanto which have inscriptions terminating with a flourish resembling a ‘y’ or a Greek letter.<br>Xanto’s literary aspirations and knowledge of Italian poetry were exceptional for a maiolica painter. In addition to inscribing extracts from poems on maiolica, in the 1530s he wrote a sonnet sequence flattering Francesco Maria Della Rovere I, Duke of Urbino. Urbino was renowned for its ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. Xanto, who specialised in ‘istoriato’ maiolica, was very skilled at exploiting the form of a piece in the arrangement of his composition.A distinguishing feature of Xanto’s work is his sophisticated and creative use of a ‘cut and paste’ technique in which he copied figures from prints and changed their identity, clothing and context for inclusion in his compositions. He drew most frequently on prints by Marcantonio Raimondi and his associates after Raphael and his school, as is the case here.<br>For the dancing cupids on this dish, Xanto has closely copied an entire engraving. They are after a version of the ‘Dance of Cupids’ engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael or from the copy attributed to Marco Dente da Ravenna. Xanto used individual figures from this print on a number of later pieces. It was also a popular source for other maiolica painters.
C47|1|1|The front of this exquisitely beautiful ‘istoriato’ bowl is painted over entire surface in pastel colours with Narcissus at the fountain of love. At the centre, Narcissus leans over the lower basin of the two-tiered fountain of love, gazing at his reflection in the water. On the finial of the upper basin Cupid, the god of love in Classical mythology, stands on one foot, blindfolded and holding his bow. On the left the stone figure of the lovesick nymph Echo had wandered restlessly in her quest for Narcissus. On the right, a group of nymphs, also lovelorn for Narcissus, watch him as he looks longingly at his reflection in the fountain. The rim is yellow. The colours are blue, green, grey, orange, yellow, purple, brown, black and opaque white. The underside is glazed with rather dirty white.<br>The story of Narcissus and Echo is told by the first century Roman poet Ovid in his epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’, in which he tells tales of transformation. The handsome youth Narcissus, desired by men and women, was proud and hard-hearted, disdaining his suitors. The nymph Echo, who could only repeat the last few words she heard spoken, fell in love with him. Rejected, she wasted away util her body turned to stone and only her echoing voice remained. Narcissus was fated to experience himself the misery that he had imposed on others. He fell in love with his own reflection. Eventually realising this, he languished and died. His body was transformed into the flower that takes his name.This bowl is attributed to Francesco Xanto Avelli, familiarly known as Xanto. Much is known about the work of Xanto, due to the information that he inscribed on many of his works, the wide-ranging and imaginatively composed subjects that he painted to a high standard, and his prolific output. Xanto was from Rovigo in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, but by at least 1530 he was working in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In 1531 Xanto married into a family of Urbino potters. He is mentioned in Urbino documents until 1542, but he is not known to have had his own workshop.<br>Unusually for a maiolica painter, between 1530 and 1542 Xanto frequently signed and often dated his work, so that its’ develop during that period is well documented. This unsigned bowl is attributed to Xanto working in the Duchy of Urbino around 1525-26, during a period in the 1520s when it is generally accepted that he sometimes used the initials ‘F.R’ as a signature.<br>Xanto’s literary aspirations and knowledge of Italian poetry were exceptional for a maiolica painter. In addition to inscribing extracts from poems on maiolica, in the 1530s he wrote a sonnet sequence flattering Francesco Maria Della Rovere I, Duke of Urbino. Urbino was renowned for its ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. Xanto, who specialised in ‘istoriato’ maiolica, was very skilled at exploiting the form of a piece in the arrangement of his composition.A distinguishing feature of Xanto’s work is his sophisticated and creative use of a ‘cut and paste’ technique in which he copied figures from prints and changed their identity, clothing and context for inclusion in his compositions. He drew most frequently on prints by Marcantonio Raimondi and his associates after Raphael and his school. However, neither the composition of the scene on this bowl nor any of the individual components of it are known to be derived from prints and they are probably original to Xanto.
C48|1|1|This bowl was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>This bowl has a ‘berettino’ glaze. The orange-haired woman shown almost three-quarter length at the centre of the bowl is a personification of Temperance, one of the four Cardinal Virtues. She looks up at an inverted decanter in her raised right hand, from which she pours liquid into a decanter in her left hand. She is dressed in Classical costume and depicted against a plain yellow background. The well wall is decorated with concentric circles of ornament framed by a pair with a rope pattern motif. The broad border has a dark blue ground and ‘berettino’ grotesque ornament comprising symmetrically balanced pairs of dolphins flanking cockleshell ‘trophies’ at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, alternating with winged heads, amidst foliate scrolls. Opaque white has been used for details and highlights throughout. The underside is painted with alternately orange and dark blue concentric circles.<br>‘Berettino’ is a tin glaze tinted blue. The shade and density of the blue varies according to the quantity of cobalt used. The style of grotesque border ornament on a ‘berettino’ glaze represented by C48 became a standard one for the borders of Faenza maiolica from around 1520 (see C49 and C57). The pairs of disc-like motifs within scrolling foliate ornament are a characteristic feature of these borders. The arms of some leading Florentine families are represented on pieces from armorial services with this style of border that were made in Faenza during the mid-1520s. Some of these services may have been made in the Bergantini workshop, one of the most important in Faenza during the first half of the sixteenth century.<br>The representation of a human figure with a recognisable associated object, or attribute, to symbolise an abstract concept, was a device used in Classical antiquity. It was popular during the Renaissance as a means of personifying moral qualities. Temperance is one of the four Cardinal Virtues thought attainable through discipline, together with Justice, Prudence and Fortitude. Temperance is often depicted, as here, decanting liquid from one vessel into another, symbolising the diluting of wine with water in order to moderate the effect of the wine. Female figures associated with specific virtues were a popular theme for maiolica decoration. See, for example, Wallace Collection C21, C33 and C108.
C50|1|1|This trencher was made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. By the mid-sixteenth century maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy.<br>In the slight depression at the centre of the trencher, on a dark blue ground, there are busts of a woman and a man. The man is behind the woman’s right shoulder and slightly lower than her. He looks at her while she appears to be turning her head towards him. They are flanked by the two ends of a scroll inscribed ‘Ominia per peconia fata son’ (‘All things are done by money’). The broad border is painted with a repeating knot pattern in yellow with square trellis areas and some other small spaces filled with orange. The rim is yellow. Other colours are grey, manganese and olive green.The underside is glazed pink.<br>Depictions of busts of a woman and a man with an accompanying scroll inscribed with an inscription on the theme of love are not uncommon. The lady’s large white headdress with blue embroidery occurs on comparable examples dating between about 1520 and 1540. The word ‘Ominia’ inscribed on C50 seems certainly intended for ‘Omnia’, so that the inscription means ‘All things are done by money’. This has enabled the source for the subject on the trencher to be identified as a story that exists in several versions and is thought to be eastern in origin. A version by Francesco Bello of Ferrara was first published there in 1509 as the opening story in a collection titled ‘Il Mambriano’. The book was so popular that eleven editions were published between 1509 and 1554. The story that inspired the Wallace Collection’s trencher was also published on its own in pamphlet form and remained in print until the nineteenth century. Bello’s version concerns Princess Alceima and a wealthy young man called Cassandro who has a garden with a fountain that proclaims ‘che omnia per pecunia facta sente’. Princess Alceima’s father, the king, tells Cassandro that he can marry the princess if he can prove the truth of this motto. In another version of the story the young man is a prince who builds a palace that has a motto on its front that translates, ‘Money can do everything’. The king tells him that if he can persuade his daughter to speak within three days he can marry her, but otherwise he will be beheaded. The couple on the trencher undoubtedly represent the princess and her suitor.<br>Interlaced knot patterns (‘groppi’/knots) were widely used on maiolica by the time that Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante illustrated examples in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. Such patterns have a very long history, but they were a popular feature of Islamic ornament. The more immediate source of inspiration on maiolica is likely to have been a series of six engravings after designs by Leonardo da Vinci that were copied by Albrecht Dürer in 1506-07. By the 1520s the prints were being used to illustrate pattern books for embroidery and sewing for the use women and girls.
C51|1|1|Drug jars made from tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) were used extensively in Italian apothecaries in the 16th century. They were well suited to this purpose, being impermeable and easy to clean, while their decoration often included a scroll or cartouche inscribed with a description of the contents. These took both liquid and solid form, and were wide-ranging, even including spices such as cinnamon and pepper. Spouted drug jars such as this one were for liquid (wed) remedies. Closely comparable jars are inscribed as containing syrop, oil and honey. The inscriptions identifying the contents, in Gothic or in Roman script, often appear in abbreviated form. The Latin inscription near the base of this example, ‘D Duob Radicib’ (De Duobus Radicibus) translates to ‘of two roots’. The development of printing in the later 15th century contributes to an increased knowledge about and standardization of remedies. These could be kept clean by the application of a ceramic lid or a paper or fabric cover tied below the jar’s rim.<br>Pharmacy jars were produced in sets. The number and variety of the containers carried, depending on their destination. A large set might be ordered for the pharmacy of a hospital or monastic order, while a set for domestic use would be less extensive. Their decoration could include the initials of an institution or the coat of arms of a noble family.<br>This jar is one of about 300 similarly and strikingly decorated vessels of various shapes. They were made in the Pompei family workshop in Castelli, a small and remote hill town in the mountainous Abruzzi region of Italy. From the 16th century, ceramic production was the main staple of the town’s economy. The vessels share a predominantly white tin glaze. The simple figurative elements are naïve and cartoon-like. On the wet drug jars, the spouts and the arrangement of the zones of decoration are formulaic, enabling rapid production.<br>The vessels in this group were not attributed to Castelli until the 1980s, when Claudio de Pompeis, a descendant of the 16th-century Pompei family, was able to show through archaeological evidence that they had been made in the Pompei workshop. Orazio Pompei was probably the head of this important workshop. His name is inscribed on a closely comparable jar, made to contain syrup of endive juice. Drug jars on this style were named the ‘Orsini-Colanna pharmacy jars’ due to the presence of a bear (‘orso’) embracing a column (‘colona’) emblematic of two Roman families, the Orsini and Colonna, on an example in the British Museum. However, it is now thought that the vessels are from several sets.
C52|1|1|This plate was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>The plate is painted all over the upper surface in blue, orange and yellow with a design of grotesques that includes a sphinx-like figure at 6 o’clock, four trophies, five birds, and a winged cherub’s head amid flowers and scrolled foliage on a dark blue ground. The finer scrolls have been formed by scratching though the blue to the white glaze beneath. The rim is yellow. The underside is glazed off-white and painted all over except for the centre with closely set concentric circles in blue, interrupted by two orange circles.<br>Grotesque ornament takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, became a popular form of decoration on maiolica. The style was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century, when dark-ground grotesques became a popular motif on Italian Renaissance maiolica. It was one component of the iconography that drew its inspiration from Classical Antiquity and came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.<br>This is one of a small group of closely comparable but slightly different plates that appear to be painted by the same hand and may perhaps have been part of a single service. Fragments with similar decoration have been excavated in Faenza. The pattern on the back of C52, comprising concentric circles in blue with two amongst them in orange, was used extensively in Faenza in the early sixteenth century.
C53|1|1|This pharmacy jar was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>The outside of the tall, waisted jar has a blue-stained (‘berettino’) glaze and is painted all round with a symmetrical grotesque pattern in pale blue and opaque white comprising foliate scrolls, some incorporating dolphin heads, and with a winged cherub’s head below a male head in a yellow roundel front and back. The pattern is painted on a dark blue ground on one side and on an orange ground on the other side. On the side with the dark blue ground, below the shoulder of the jar, the young man’s head in shown in profile, facing left, and he wears a light blue helmet with a yellow edge; the name ‘Rodamote’ is inscribed on a scroll to the left of the profile. On the side with the orange ground there is a young man’s head turned slightly to his right and looking in that direction. He wears an orange helmet with yellow details. A blue scroll on the left in the medallion is inscribed ‘Carlo’. The shoulder and base of the jar are painted in blue and white with an encircling spirally twisted ribbon dagged like oak leaves. The jar’s everted mouth is dark blue. The foot is painted blue and has an unglazed base.The inside is glazed a dirty buff.<br>A pharmacy jar of this shape is called an ‘albarello’. The term derives from the Arab term ‘El Barani’, a container for medicinal products. The form originated in Persia in the twelfth century and was in use in Syria by the thirteenth century. Exported to European pharmacies, it was adopted in Spain and then Italy. It was used for dry or semi-liquid products, a spouted pharmacy jar being used for liquid contents (see C51). From the fifteenth century maiolica pharmacy jars were produced in large numbers in Italy. They had several advantages. They were impermeable and the contents, which could be labelled by name on a scroll or cartouche as part of their decoration, could be kept clean by a ceramic lid or by a piece of cloth or parchment secured at the vessel’s neck. Their waisted profile made them easy to grip. Sets of pharmacy jars varied in size. The pharmacy of a hospital or monastic order might have a large set, while a smaller set would suffice for a domestic pharmacy. The decoration of a set could incorporate a symbol of its ownership, such as the initials or emblem of an institution or the coat of arms of a private individual.<br>‘Rodamote’ and ‘Carlo’, the names inscribed on C53, are intended respectively for Rodomont, the fierce and arrogant African King of Sarthia and Algiers, and his adversary, the Christian King of France and emperor Charlemagne, in Ludovico Ariosto’s epic romance ‘Orlando Furioso’. In Cantos 17 and 18 Rodomont and his forces besiege Paris, Charlemagne’s stronghold. The Italian writer and diplomat Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) is best known for ‘Orlando Furioso’, which was first published in 1516, although it wasn’t until 1532 that the extended, definitive third edition appeared. The poem’s popularity is reflected by the numerous examples of maiolica that derive their subjects from it. Scenes and heads of characters from the poem were painted on maiolica between the 1520s and around 1550. The painters who depicted scenes from the poem, sometimes as components of sets, include Francesco Xanto Avelli, Nicola da Urbino and Giacomo Mancini. For an example depicting a series of incidents from Canto XXII see Wallace Collection C39. A closely comparable pharmacy jar to C53 in a private collection refers to two further characters in Ariosto’s poem and may be from the same set. A similar pharmacy jar is inscribed with a date that is indistinct but almost certainly 1550 and an example comparable to that one is dated 1550 (see Timothy Wilson, ‘The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting’, Turin 2018, cat. no. 73).<br>A ‘berettino’ glaze is a tin glaze tinted blue. The shade and density of the blue varies according to the quantity of cobalt used.<br>Grotesque ornament takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage §arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, became a popular form of decoration on maiolica. The style was disseminated through prints. It was one component of the iconography that drew its inspiration from Classical Antiquity and came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.
C54|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>This mould-formed circular bowl has a slightly convex central boss encircled by a border comprising twenty-five radiating flutes divided into four repeating sections by single petal-shaped compartments at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, and an undulating rim comprising twenty-seven dark blue lobes. The boss is painted with winged Cupid seated on a grassy mound and playing a yellow viol, with a mountainous landscape in the distance. The petal-shaped compartments in the border have an orange background on which there is dolphin-ended foliage in blue on a white ground. Between the petal-shaped compartments two flutes with yellow and orange foliage decoration on a dark blue ground flank a narrower flute with a green background and an acanthus scroll, in blue on a white ground. The underside is thinly glazed in white and painted with a narrow single orange ray projecting from the centre of the bowl along the centre of each flute, the outlines of the petal-shaped motifs painted dark blue, and lines alternatively in dark blue and orange encircling the bowl.<br>There are many moulded bowls in this or similar form, with border sections painted predominantly in dark blue, orange and yellow incorporating stylised foliage. The shape was probably achieved by pressing the clay over a convex mould. The bowls were produced in Faenza, as some examples with Faentine workshop marks testify. They were probably made by several workshops, from at least the 1530s into the 1570s, with a large number made around mid-century. They may also have been made by potters trained in Faenza who working elsewhere and were made elsewhere by potters taking inspiration from Faentine ceramics (see C61). The earliest known dated example was made in 1538, and the latest is dated 1575 (respectively Timothy Wilson and Elisa Paola Sani, ‘Le maioliche rinascimentali nelle collezioni della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia’, 2 vols, Perugia 2006–7, I, cat. no. 27 and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance’, Milan 1996, cat. no. 74).<br>This type of compartmentalised border decoration was described as ‘Quartiere’ (‘Quarters’) by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. A bowl of this type is known in Italian as a ‘crespina’, from the Italian ‘crespa’, meaning pleat or wrinkle. They were made in imitation of gadrooned metalwork and were most likely used at the table for fruit and sweets. Some contain ceramic fruit. For other examples of ‘Quartiere’ maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C56, C59 and C61.<br>Cupid is often depicted at the centre of bowls with ‘Quariere’ or grotesque ornament (see, for example, Wallace Collection C57 and British Museum 1852,1129.7).
C55|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>The bowl is painted all over the upper surface, on a pale blue (‘berettino’) ground, with a group of young people in a landscape. They comprise five men and five women in contemporary dress, all of them seated on grass except for a man who plays a lute and stands with his back to a tree. One woman points to Cupid, who looks down at them from the sky and holds his bow. They are at the edge of a dense forest. To the right, below them, a boat with two masts is at sea and across the water there is a town with a mountainous landscape receding into the distance behind it. The colours are dark blue, various tones of brown, orange, yellow, grey, and opaque white. Red-brown is applied very thickly and stands out in relief. The grey blends with the blue ground and produces a dark green for the grass and trees. The underside is glazed blue and painted in dark blue with four sketchy floral motifs separated by zigzag rays. The date 1534 is painted in blue at the centre. A yellow line follows the inside edge of the foot, forming a circle. During the firing process the bowl's profile became very contorted.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. It is quite an early piece of Faentine ‘istoriato’. The presence of Cupid, who has the group in his sights, the even numbers of men and women, the convivial pastoral setting and the lutanist playing his instrument all suggest that this is a group of lovers and that the subject is a romantic idyll. Romantic love was a popular them on sixteenth-century maiolica. Perhaps the woman with her back to the rest of the group partners the lutanist. Musicians, and young male lovers in particular, were a popular theme on early Faentine ‘istoriato’ and ‘berettino’ maiolica. A bowl in the British Museum that was made in Faenza around 1525–35 depicts a lovers’ quarrel, with musical instruments and an open score lying discarded on the ground (Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A catalogue of the British Museum collection’, London 2009, cat. no. 88).<br>The prominence of the light blue and yellow palette is a characteristic of Faentine maiolica. ‘Berettino’, a tin glaze tinted blue, was often used there. The shade and density of the blue glaze varies according to the quantity of cobalt used.
C55|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>This mould-formed circular bowl has a convex central boss encircled by sixteen oblique flutes that radiate out to culminate in sixteen horizontal lozenges below a sixteen-lobed yellow rim. The boss is painted on a pale blue (‘berettino’) ground with a standing young man wearing ochre, blue and white contemporary dress. He appears to be tied to the tree behind him on a greensward. There are blue mountains in the distance, below a yellow and blue sky. The fluted compartments of the border are alternatively orange and dark blue with light blue and white foliate scrolls, those on the blue ground including dolphins. The underside is glazed blue (‘berettino’) and the convex elements painted alternatively with dark blue or orange foliage sprigs. The rim is painted with a broad yellow band.<br>There are many moulded bowls of this or similar form, with border sections painted predominantly in dark blue, orange and yellow incorporating stylised foliage. The shape was probably achieved by pressing the clay over a convex mould. The bowls were produced in Faenza, as some examples with Faentine workshop marks testify. They were probably made by several workshops, from at least the 1530s into the 1570s, with a large number made around mid-century. They may also have been made by potters trained in Faenza and working elsewhere and were made by potters taking inspiration from Faentine ceramics who worked elsewhere (see C61). The earliest known dated example was made in 1538, and the latest is dated 1575 (respectively Timothy Wilson and Elisa Paola Sani, ‘Le maioliche rinascimentali nelle collezioni della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia’, 2 vols, Perugia 2006–7, I, cat. no. 27 and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance’, Milan 1996, cat. no. 74).<br>This type of compartmentalised border decoration was described as ‘Quartiere’ (‘Quarters’) by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. A bowl of this type is known in Italian as a ‘crespina’, from the Italian ‘crespa’, meaning pleat or wrinkle. They were made in imitation of gadrooned metal work and they were most likely used at the table for fruit and sweets. Some contain ceramic fruit. For other examples of ‘Quartiere’ maiolica in the Wallace Collection see also C54, C59 and C61.<br>The subject here is an allegory of love, the conceit being that the man is in thrall to love just as he is bound to the tree. The theme of unrequited love, or the lover tortured by love, was widespread in medieval and Petrarchan poetry and the arts of the Renaissance. It seems to have been a popular theme for this type of bowl. On one example, the young man’s chest is pierced by an arrow (Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 4626-1858). In an example comparable to C56 in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, a young man sits at the base of the tree to which he is bound. He is dressed in almost identical clothes to the young man on C56. The man is sometimes depicted accompanied by his unbound beloved who torments him, a subject also found in prints, such as a Florentine engraving of about 1465–80. For the Getty bowl and an illustration of the print see Catherine Hess, ‘Italian Ceramics: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection’, Los Angeles 2002, cat. no. 31. For a lustred plate made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio in 1522 depicting a man tied to a tree, confronted by a woman with a dagger, and an inscription which translates as ‘Your wickedness grieves me more than death’, see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 65.6.10. An example in the Louvre, Paris, shows a young woman tied to a tree (see Jeanne Giacomotti, ‘Catalogue des majoliques des musées nationaux’, Paris 1974, cat. no. 940).<br>‘Berettino’ is a tin glaze tinted blue. The shade and density of the blue varies according to the quantity of cobalt used.
C57|1|1|This bowl was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>This bowl has a ‘berettino’ glaze. At the centre of the bowl, in a green, yellow and orange landscape, Cupid sits on a grassy knoll holding a palm branch in his right hand. In the distance behind him, on either side, there is a single orange mountain. The sky is dark blue. The well wall is decorated with an encircling band of white foliate sprigs flanked by a pair of narrow bands of dark blue rope ornament, all on a ‘berettino’ ground. The broad border has a dark blue ground and a repeating pattern of ‘berettino’ grotesque ornament comprising four panels with a winged head near the rim, above a pair of disc-like motifs, the heads flanked by dolphins, alternating with four bands of pairs of disc-like motifs near the rim, above acanthus flowers, all interspersed with foliate motifs. The panels are separated by single lines, alternatively parallel or diverging from the centre. Opaque white has been used for details and highlights throughout. The underside is glazed pale blue. It is painted at the centre with three dark blue concentric circles. There are two dark blue bands close to the rim and three more separating two concentric zones of blue zigzags with dashes of orange and blue in alternate hollows.<br>‘Berettino’ is a tin glaze tinted blue. The shade and density of the blue varies according to the quantity of cobalt used. The style of grotesque border ornament on a ‘berettino’ glaze represented by C57 became a standard one for the borders of Faenza maiolica from around 1520 (see Wallace Collection C48 and C49). The pairs of disc-like motifs within scrolling foliate ornament are a characteristic feature of these borders. The arms of some leading Florentine families are represented on pieces from armorial services with this style of border that were made in Faenza during the mid-1520s. Some of these services may have been made in the Bergantini workshop, one of the most important in Faenza during the first half of the sixteenth century.<br>Cupid is often depicted as a single figure in a landscape on maiolica (see, for example, Wallace Collection C54).
C58|1|1|This shallow bowl was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>The bowl is painted over its entire upper surface with a depiction of ‘The Kiss of Judas’. The scene is set in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is depicted as a rocky terrain with a view of Jerusalem in the background. In the middle ground, amidst Roman soldiers and Christ’s disciples, Judas kisses Christ. In the foreground, one of Christ’s followers cuts off an ear of the high priest’s servant. The colours are blue, yellow, dark brown, red-brown, buff, green, and opaque white. The underside is glazed with yellow and painted all over except in the centre with a pattern of scales in blue and a few encircling lines in blue and orange. A plaque painted in the centre is inscribed in dark blue: '1539 ADX4 DE NVVEMBRE XXXXXX'<br>The foot has been ground away, leaving the semblance of a foot ring.This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’, or narrative maiolica, in which a scene is painted over the entire surface, or the greater part of the surface of the piece. The subject depicted here, ‘The Kiss of Judas’, or ‘The Betrayal of Christ’, is from the biblical New Testament. A turning-point in the story of Christ’s Life and Passion, it is the moment when one of Christ’s twelve disciples, Judas, betrays him by kissing him in the Garden of Gethsemane in order to identify him to the Roman soldiers, and Christ is arrested. In response, one of Christ’s followers cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. There are accounts of the events in the four Gospels: Matthew 26: 48¬-51; Mark 14: 44-47; Luke 22: 47-50; and John 18: 1-10, where Simon Peter (St Peter) is identified as the follower who cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, there identified as Malchus.<br>A source for the composition of the scene has not been identified. The bowl could have formed part of a series depicting the life and Passion of Christ or other religious subjects, but it may also have been an individual commission.<br>The bowl originally had a foot, but this has been ground away, either because it was damaged or so that the bowl could be more easily accommodated in a frame, enabling it to be displayed like a painting. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was not unusual for the foot of an ‘istoriato’ bowl or plate to be removed for this purpose.
C59|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot was made in Faenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that formed part of the territory of the Papal States in the sixteenth century. Faenza is renowned for its maiolica production. Around the mid-sixteenth century potters there developed a new style of maiolica, ‘Faenza white’, for which they took advantage of the high quality of the local tin glazes to produce pieces with less labour-intensive decoration that met with great success.<br>This mould-formed circular bowl has a low central boss encircled by twelve flutes that radiate out to a twenty-four-lobed dark blue rim. The boss is painted on a yellow ground with Venus, who is shown from the thighs up, naked but for a scarf flowing over her left shoulder. In her left hand she holds what is probably a flaming heart, but which could, alternatively, be intended for a golden apple. In her right hand she holds an arrow. The boss is separated from the border of the bowl by an encircling rope pattern detailed in dark blue. The fluted compartments of the border are alternatively orange and green. The outer ends of the flutes are separated from the main parts by a narrow encircling yellow band. The outer ends of the green sections have a strip of orange and the outer ends of the orange sections a strip of green. The green portions are painted with yellow scrolls and the orange portions with blue and white scrolls, sometimes terminating in dolphins.The underside is moulded in relief like a flower with two rows of overlapping petals and an acanthus-like calyx. It has an off-white glaze and is painted with a blue rim and with rays alternately yellow with orange centres, and blue.<br>There are many moulded bowls in this or similar form, with border sections painted predominantly in dark blue, orange and yellow incorporating stylised foliage. The shape was probably achieved by pressing the clay over a convex mould. The bowls were produced in Faenza, as some examples with Faentine workshop marks testify. They were probably made by several workshops, from at least the 1530s into the 1570s, with a large number made around mid-century. They may also have been made by potters trained in Faenza who worked elsewhere and were made by potters working elsewhere who took inspiration from Faentine ceramics (see C61). The earliest known dated example was made in 1538, and the latest is dated 1575 (respectively Timothy Wilson and Elisa Paola Sani, ‘Le maioliche rinascimentali nelle collezioni della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia’, 2 vols, Perugia 2006–7, I, cat. no. 27 and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance’, Milan 1996, cat. no. 74).<br>This type of compartmentalised border decoration was described as ‘Quartiere’ (‘Quarters’) by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. A bowl of this type is known in Italian as a ‘crespina’, from the Italian ‘crespa’, meaning pleat or wrinkle. They were made in imitation of gadrooned metal-work and they were most likely used at the table for fruit and sweets. Some contain ceramic fruit. For other examples of ‘Quartiere’ maiolica in the Wallace Collection see also C54, C56 and C61.<br>Venus, the goddess of love in Classical mythology, was a popular subject in Renaissance iconography. She might be depicted alone, with associated objects, as here; with her son Cupid, god of love (see Wallace Collection C70 and C126); or in depictions of the mythological stories in which she features. One of her attributes is a flaming heart, symbolising intense love, and that is probably intended as the object in her left hand on C59, particularly as in her right hand she holds an arrow. Cupid pierced his victims with an arrow to inflame them with love. However, there is also a possibility that the object in Venus’s left hand is a golden apple. In the myth of the Judgement of Paris, Venus was awarded a golden apple by Paris when he judged her more beautiful than her two competitors, Juno and Minera, for the accolade of being ‘the fairest’. For depictions of the ‘Judgement of Paris’ on maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C72, C102, C120 and C153.
C60|1|1|This hollow bust on a pedestal was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The bust depicts a young woman identified as ‘LAVRA’ by an inscription in blue capital letters on the short circular pedestal. She looks down and slightly to her left. Her arms are truncated just below the shoulder. Her plaited orange hair is parted at the centre front, terminates in a bun, and is bound with a copper green fillet. Laura’s costume simulates Classical armour. Her breast plate has a floral pattern in blue and white and a yellow border with orange details and a central grotesque mask. Above the breast plate the edge of a white pleated under garment is visible. Yellow lappets with orange details lie horizontally on her shoulders. Her sleeves are striped yellow and copper green. She wears a necklace of large spherical orange beads, two of which, just below her left shoulder, were missing before the bust was glazed. The inscription on the pedestal is flanked above and below by a wide single blue line encircling the pedestal. Below a white band, the foot of the pedestal is yellow with narrow orange encircling lines. Some details are in brown.<br>This small-scale bust inscribed with the name of the person represented is of a type produced in Deruta in the later sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. They commemorate literary, historic or religious figures. Laura, for whom the Wallace Collection bust is named, was the idealised love of the fourteenth-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374). He recorded that he saw Laura for the first time on 6 April 1327 in the Church of Saint Claire in Avignon and that she died in Avignon on 6 April 1348. He immortalised her in his poetry, including the ‘Canzoniere’.<br>A closely comparable bust in the Palazzo Madama, Turin (inv. 2313/C), is inscribed around the base with the name ‘Marfisa’, for a character in the epic romance ‘Orlando Furioso’ by Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533), first published in 1516 but printed in its extended and definitive form in 1532. A bust of the Roman emperor Titus is in the Museo della Ceramica Duca di Martina. These busts of literary or historic figures might have been intended for display in a study. Pairs of busts of Christ and the Virgin, of which there are examples in the Museo Regionale della Ceramica, Deruta, and the Museo Statale d’Arte Medioevale e Moderna di Arezzo, would have been intended for devotional use.
C61|1|1|This low-footed bowl was made in Montelupo, a major Tuscan centre of maiolica production situated on the River Arno between Florence and Pisa. Maiolica production in Montelupo was already well established by 1400 and in the sixteenth century maiolica made in the village was widely exported in Europe and the Mediterranean.<br>This mould-formed bowl has a low central boss encircled by twelve shallow flutes that radiate out to a twenty-four-lobed blue rim. The boss is painted on a yellow ground with an ribbed urn-shaped vase containing fruit-like flowers and foliage and set on a grassy mound. Alternate fluted compartments of the border are dark blue with yellow foliage. These alternate with an orange and a green flute, the former painted with blue and white foliage terminating in a dolphin, the latter with white and orange foliage. Each flute is flanked by borders, those either side of the orange flutes being green and yellow, those framing the green flutes being orange and yellow. Some details are painted in brown. The underside is glazed white and painted with broad concentric circles of dark and light blue and narrower, adjacent single bands of yellow and orange.<br>Compartmentalised border decoration of this type was described as ‘Quartiere’ (‘Quarters’) by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557. Bowls of this form are known in Italian as ‘crespine’, from the Italian ‘crespa’, meaning pleat or wrinkle. They were made in imitation of gadrooned metalwork and they were most likely used at the table for fruit and sweets. Some contain ceramic fruit. For other examples of ‘Quartiere’ maiolica in the Wallace Collection see also C54, C56 and C59.<br>There are many moulded bowls in this or similar form, with border sections painted predominantly in dark blue, orange and yellow and incorporating stylised foliage. The shape was probably achieved by pressing the clay over a convex mould. Faenza was a major production centre for this kind of ware from at least the 1530s into the 1570s, with a large number made around mid-century (see Wallace Collection C54, C56 and C59). They may also have been made by potters trained in Faenza who worked elsewhere. Faentine production presumably inspired potters in Montelupo, where closely comparable examples were made from around 1550 to around 1620. The attribution of C61 to Montelupo takes into account the sketchy style of the painting on the boss, which is characteristic of later sixteenth-century Montelupo examples, and the simple manner of depicting the foliage in the border flutes.
C62|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl was made in Deruta, a small town near Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Deruta was the main centre for maiolica production in the region. Its prominence began in the later fifteenth century, when it became renowned for its golden lustre ware.<br>The bowl has a warm palette of gold and ruby lustre with dark blue shading and outlines. The bust of a young woman facing left is painted at the centre of the well, her head shown against a dark blue ground. She wears a ruby garment with gold trim. The background is dotted with stylised ruby flower heads. The well wall has a repeating pattern of alternating circles and diamonds framed between single encircling lines in ruby lustre. On the border, radial petal motifs alternate with flowers and enclose bursting seed pods. Gold lustre encircles the rim. The underside is glazed pinkish buff and painted with three sets of concentric circles, two, three, and two, in gold lustre.<br>Due to the use of red lustre, objects like this are sometimes attributed to Gubbio, which is renowned for its production of red lustre, but the shape of this bowl is typical of Deruta. While it used to be thought that red lustre was not produced at Deruta, locally found fragments have shown that both red and gold lustre were made there, particularly in the first two decades of the sixteenth century. This is one of a group of lustred pieces that were made in Deruta in the early sixteenth century and combine motifs of geometric, floral and vegetable origin. The convention of depicting the bust of a generic young woman in profile at the centre of a bowl or basin was well established in Deruta by the end of the fifteenth century. The profiles reflect the influence of the artists Pinturicchio and Perugino, who carried out work in Umbria, such as the frescoes by Perugino and assistants dating to around 1496 to 1500 in the Collegio del Cambio in Perugia, about twelve miles from Deruta.
C63|1|1|This plate was made in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century, Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there. For the Andreoli workshop see C65–C67.<br>The decoration of this plate overlaps the boundaries between its distinct zones, the well and the border, that are reflected in the division of ornament on other pieces with grotesque ornament in the Wallace Collection, such as C67. The all’antica decoration is symmetrically arranged in grisaille and gold and ruby lustre on a dark blue ground. It comprises a central female bust in profile facing left in a medallion on a vertical strapwork band terminating at the top in opposed cornucopias and at the base in opposed, outward-facing single bird heads. The heads of a pair of outward-facing, harpy-like winged creatures in profile flank the profile head, their bodies terminating in scrolling tails above the birds’ heads. Delicate foliage is interspersed among these motifs. The rim is lustred gold. The underside is glazed dark creamy white with areas of staining and discolouring and painted with three C-scrolls in gold lustre.<br>The bust in profile and symmetrically balanced grotesque ornament incorporating cornucopias, harpy-like creatures and birds’ heads depicted on this plate are inspired by the ornamental style of Roman antiquity. Such emulation, as understood in the Italian Renaissance, is termed all’antica – in the style of the ancients. The discovery of the underground remains of the first century CE Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, came to dominate maiolica production around the first decade of the sixteenth century.<br>It is possible that C63 was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. Similar C-scrolls occur on the undersides of two plates made in the Andreoli workshop that are in the British Museum. One is decorated with a central female bust in profile and grotesque ornament. It is inscribed with the workshop mark of Giorgio Andreoli and was made in 1530–1. The other is dated to about 1525–35 (British Museum, invs 1851,12–1,20 and 1851,12–1,2 respectively).
C64|1|1|This vase was made in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century, Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there. For the Andreoli workshop see C65–C67.<br>The vase has an inverted trapezoid bowl with a curved base, a shoulder that curves up into a tall neck widening into a flanged mouth, and a small spreading foot. A pair of tall, opposed, waisted, ear-shaped handles painted in gold lustre are attached at the shoulder and below the mouth, above which they rise. The vase is painted in blue and in gold and ruby lustre. A row of oblique counterfeit gadroons framed by single horizontal lines of red lustre encircle the body above a border of arcading. The shoulder is encircled by alternating downward-facing points and florets. There are two fruit-bearing sprays on either side of the neck, which is bordered where it meets the shoulder by an encircling line of ruby lustre. A repeating pattern of acanthus foliage encircles the foot, the rim of which is painted in gold lustre.<br>Counterfeit gadrooning, in emulation of the gadrooning in relief found on metalwork, was often used on maiolica produced in Gubbio at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It occurs frequently on plates and bowls made or attributed to Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop, but vases with counterfeit gadrooning are rarer. The blue, gold and ruby gadrooning on C63 is very similar to that on a bowl in the British Museum that is attributed as probably having been made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop around 1520–40.<br>This vase takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. Such emulation, as understood in the Italian Renaissance, is termed all’antica – in the style of the ancients. A sheet of drawings from the so-called ‘North Italian Album’, dating to around 1475–90, depicts a number of gadrooned all’antica vases (see Françoise Barbe and Carmen Ravanelli Guidotti ed., ‘Forme e “Diverse Pitture” della Maiolica Italiana. La collezione delle maioliche del Petit Palais della Città di Parigi’, Venice 2006, p. 52, fig. 3).
C66|1|1|This exquisite monumental dish is an outstanding example of the virtuosity achieved by Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s acclaimed maiolica workshop in Gubbio. The inscription in lustre on the back, dated 6 April 1525, proudly proclaims that it was made in this workshop, which was celebrated for the beauty of its lustre, especially the distinctive ruby red. Gold and ruby red lustre shine from the surface of this beautiful dish. The bathing women are taken from three Italian prints depicting mythological subjects. The contemporary fascination for Classical Antiquity is reflected by the pool in which the young ladies bathe, with its marble front inspired by Roman precedents, and the flamboyant rim, extravagantly decorated with grotesques.
C67|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s acclaimed workshop in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century, Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there.<br>Within a medallion in the well of the bowl a small naked boy stands in a landscape holding a ball. The well wall is lustred plain gold. The border has a dark blue ground painted in gold and ruby lustre with a repeating design of palmettes, seraphim, tablets and scrolls. The rim is painted in ruby lustre. The glazed underside is painted in gold lustre with two groups of three concentric circles and the inscription in the centre:<br><br>1528<br>. M. G.<br>(with a small ‘o’ above the ‘M’ and above the ‘G’).<br><br>The decoration of this bowl is of a type produced by Maestro Giorgio’s workshop that was applied to bowls and plates between about 1525 and 1535 but which was particularly popular between 1526 and 1528, to judge by dated examples. At the centre they usually have coats of arms of Italian noble families or a naked boy, either winged or wingless, engaged in an activity in a landscape. Their borders vary but are consistent in having a dark blue ground painted with palmettes combined with other motifs and arranged in various patterns in red and gold lustre and other colours. Examples of this type include armorial services, as the survival of six plates from a set bearing the arms of Vitelli impaling Della Staffa, all dated 1527, testifies (Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A catalogue of the British Museum collection’, 2 vols, London 2009, p. 514). It is possible that pieces painted with a naked boy were given as gifts to the mothers of boys, or those wishing for sons.<br>The most likely explanation of how the border decoration was achieved is usually described as follows: The dark blue ground was applied with a brush on a revolving wheel and then the required pattern was incised with a pointed tool through this unfired layer to reveal the unfired white glaze beneath. The piece was then fired, the lustre was applied, and the piece was given its final firing.<br>With its depiction of a naked boy and palmettes, C67 reflects the influence of Classical Antiquity on Renaissance taste. This influence resulted in stylistic and iconographic characteristics that came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.<br>The decoration of pieces of this type may have been divided between those specialising in the borders and others who painted the subjects in the centres.
C68|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl was made in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century, Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there. For pieces made in the Andreoli workshop see C65–C67.<br>In the shallow well, against a plain background of gold lustre, winged Cupid steps forward to his right, his right leg raised. A quiver suspended from a narrow red band across his chest hangs at his back. His neck and each ankle are encircled by a string of round ruby red beads. He holds a torch horizontally parallel to the right side of his body, the flame at the front. The bowl’s border is painted with grotesque ornament. Against a dark blue background two opposed winged creatures with the heads of bearded men and the bodies of serpents face each other. They are white with red spots and gold lustre hair. Their tails extend up the sides of the bowl, incorporate a pair of opposing male heads terminating in cornucopiae, and meet at the top, where they turn away from each other. Both male heads near the top of the bowl face a winged helmet. There is a floral swag at the centre top and a bearded mask at the centre of the base. Ribbons of gold lustre occupy the background. The rim is painted in gold lustre. The underside is glazed a pinkish-buff colour and has some blue splatters. It is painted in gold lustre with a group of four concentric circles around the centre and two groups of two concentric circles on the border, with diagonal dashes either side of the outer two pairs of concentric circles.<br>Naked young boys, putti or Cupid are often depicted on maiolica, for example on Wallace Collection C46, C49, C54, C57, C67 and C89. They were a popular central motif on pieces produced in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop around 1530. The red lustre beads strung around Cupid’s neck and ankles may represent coral, traditionally believed to have protective properties, particularly for children (see Timothy Wilson, ‘Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’, New York 2016, cat. no. 79).<br>Grotesque ornament, exemplified by the border decoration on C68, with its symmetrically balanced, fantastical components, takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The style was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century, when dark-ground grotesques became a popular motif on Italian Renaissance maiolica.
C69|1|1|This plate was made in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century Gubbio was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there. For pieces made in the Andreoli workshop see C65–C67.<br>Against a gold lustre background, symmetrically arranged grotesque ornament in ruby lustre and blue occupies the well and border of this plate. The main features of the border are a vase with fruit at 12 o’clock, above opposed and joined cornucopiae and flanked by floral scrolls; a pair of opposed winged dragons at 6 o’clock, and opposed trophies of musical instruments at 3 and 9 o’clock. In the well, a vase is flanked by the dragons’ tails. Ribbons of ruby lustre enrich the design. The underside is glazed pale buff and painted in red lustre with four groups of foliate scrolls and, in the centre, the date 1531.<br>Grotesque ornament, with its symmetrically balanced motifs, often, as here, incorporating mythical creatures, trophies, cornucopiae, vases and scrollwork, takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The style was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century, when grotesques became a popular motif on Italian Renaissance maiolica.
C72|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot was probably made in Urbino or the Urbino district, in the Marche region of Italy. The small but prestigious town of Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. At the time when this bowl was made, in the mid-sixteenth century, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>The inscription in blue at the centre of the bowl's underside gives the subject, the date on which the painting of the piece was presumably completed, 8 April 1548, and the fact that it is by the hand of ‘T’ (?).<br>The bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations. Here, the scene depicted is from the Greek mythological story of 'The Judgement of Paris', in which Paris, a prince of Troy who had been raised as a shepherd, must decide who is the most beautiful among the three goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus. In the foreground, beside a river and trees, Paris is seated on the right, facing the three naked goddesses, Juno with her peacock, Minerva, her helmet on the ground beside her, and Venus with her son Cupid. Paris is awarding the prize, a golden apple, to Venus, who has promised him that, should he award the prize to her, he will be rewarded with the most beautiful woman in the world. Behind Paris, the god Mars indicates the goddesses. On the left, a river god reclines near a rock, leaning against a vase of water that flows into the river. He is probably intended to represent the river god Scamander, after whom the river near Troy is named. In the background, Troy burns. In choosing Venus as the winner, Paris enraged Juno, which consequently led to the Trojan War.<br>The underside is glazed white.Between the rim, which is encircled in yellow, and the central inscription, mentioned above, the base is encircled in blue by a row of intersecting arches bordered on the outside by a row of arches, the spandrel of each containing a stylised leaf motif.<br>'The Judgement of Paris' was a very popular subject in Renaissance art. The arrangement of the figures on C72 appears to derive ultimately from Marcantonio Raimondi’s well-known engraving of the subject, made between 1515 and 1520 after a drawing by Raphael. For further examples of 'The Judgement of Paris' on maiolica see Wallace Collection C102, C120 and C153.
C74|1|1|Within an austere Classical architectural setting, the unusual subject depicted on this shallow, low-footed bowl shows the Roman orator Cicero, seated on a circular, garlanded pedestal, conversing with Gaius Octavius, later Emperor Augustus. Behind Cicero, two young men are in conversation. The inscription on the bowl’s underside indicates the subject and states that the bowl was made in Rimini in 1535. Although not signed, the bowl was painted by Guilio da Urbino, one of the most accomplished maiolica painters of the Renaissance.<br><br>Only two fully signed pieces of maiolica by Guilio da Urbino are known, a bowl depicting a political allegory in the British Museum (inv. 1997,0401.1), which is dated 1534 and seems certainly to have been made in Urbino, and a jug fragment in the Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna (inv. n. 1117), which is signed as having been made by Giulio da Urbino in the workshop of ‘mastro alisandro’ in Rimini in 1535. Prior to his move to Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, in late 1534 or 1535, Giulio da Urbino appears to have worked in Urbino, in the Marche, in close association with Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, for whose work in the Wallace Collection see, for example, C88, C89 and C91. In Maestro Alisandro’s workshop in Rimini Giulio depicted some more unusual subjects, developed an independent pictorial style, and was less reliant on printed sources. These characteristics are exemplified on Wallace Collection C74, for which a print source is not known, the rather obscure subject concerns the acclaimed writer and orator Cicero and the future Roman emperor Augustus, and the way of indicating walls with horizontal lines and groups of dots and vertical dashes is a feature of Giulio’s work in Rimini. A small group of pieces dated 1535 and inscribed as having been made in Rimini have been attributed to Giulio da Urbino, who is undoubtedly the ‘Iulius’ documented in a notarial act in the city on 18 March that year as working in the workshop of Maestro Alessandro di Lazzato. It is possible that Giulio went on to work in Verona, as a dish inscribed as having been painted there in 1541 has been attributed to him.
C79|1|1|This unusual wall plaque is surprisingly archaic for 1521, the date inscribed to the side of the Virgin’s head. The depiction of the Virgin nursing the infant Christ is taken from an anonymous fifteenth-century German woodcut. The maiolica painter has embellished the figures and added a taut scroll inscribed in Gothic script with a phrase that was used in the Middle Ages to protect against fire and lightning. Mother and child are posed reflectively within the scroll, arranged to represent a window. The Virgin leans forward out of the frame, suggesting, perhaps, engagement with the wider world even during this moment of intimacy.
C80|1|1|This drug jars show the early influence of Spanish tin-glazed and painted ceramics on potters in the small Umbrian town of Deruta, before the influence of classical antiquity came to dominate the decoration of Italian maiolica, the tin-glazed and painted earthenware associated most closely with late fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy. The Spanish influence is evident in the vessel form itself, and in the bold white, cobalt blue and manganese palette, the simple, compartmentalised patterns, the armorial shield and the flat, cusped handles with their incised decoration. Non-porous and relatively inexpensive, maiolica albarelli were used in pharmacies to store dry or semi-solid ingredients, covered with a piece of paper or parchment secured below the rim.
C81|1|1|This drug jars show the early influence of Spanish tin-glazed and painted ceramics on potters in the small Umbrian town of Deruta, before the influence of classical antiquity came to dominate the decoration of Italian maiolica, the tin-glazed and painted earthenware associated most closely with late fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy. The Spanish influence is evident in the vessel form itself, and in the bold white, cobalt blue and manganese palette, the simple, compartmentalised patterns, the armorial shield and the flat, cusped handles with their incised decoration. Non-porous and relatively inexpensive, maiolica albarelli were used in pharmacies to store dry or semi-solid ingredients, covered with a piece of paper or parchment secured below the rim.
C84|1|1|This shallow, low-footed bowl is inscribed on the back in lustre with the date 1526 and the mark of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s acclaimed workshop in Gubbio. Gubbio is a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century, it was renowned for the maiolica embellished with ruby lustre that was either made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop or, perhaps in some cases, brought from another production centre, such as Urbino, to be lustred there.<br>The bowl is one of a group of objects that are attributed to the same hand and inscribed with dates from 1524 to 1527 which may have been painted as well as lustred in Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. Their anonymous painter is known as ‘The Decollation Painter’ after a bowl dated 1526 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, depicting ‘The Decollation of St John the Baptist’ (Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Maiolica and Europe’, Oxford 2017, cat. 111). The Ashmolean’s bowl has characteristics typical of this painter’s style, which shows the influence of Nicola da Urbino.<br>The first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic-scale poem 'Metamorphoses', with its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. One of the most frequently depicted stories was that of the virgin goddess of the hunt Diana’s transformation of Actaeon, Prince of Thebes, into a stag. While hunting, Actaeon’s party stopped to rest. Nearby, Diana and her nymphs were bathing naked in a pool, where Actaeon inadvertently stumbled upon them. Enraged by the intrusion, Diana splashed him, transforming him into a stag. Terrified, he was hunted by his own dogs ('Metamorphoses', Book 3, lines 139-252).<br>The moment depicted here, when Diana’s spell began to take effect, was frequently represented (see also C123). As Diana douses Actaeon with water, his head is transformed into a stag’s. His dogs give chase as he retreats. The town in the distance is presumably Thebes. The Andreoli workshop was renowned for the vibrant red lustre which is used to great effect here to convey the agitated drama of the scene while also seeming to anticipate Actaeon’s bloody fate. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, copper green, grey-green, black and opaque white, with ruby and gold lustre.<br>The underside is glazed off-white and painted in ruby lustre with three sets of two concentric circles, six foliate scrolls in the border and the workshop mark and date in the centre.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas.
C85|1|1|The love story of Cupid and Psyche, as recounted by the Roman writer Lucius Apuleius in The Golden Ass, was popular during the Renaissance. This episode takes place shortly before the couple’s wedding feast brings the story to a happy conclusion. Cupid, the winged god of Love, introduces Psyche to the gods assembled on Mount Olympus. Diminutive Cupid speaks to Jupiter, the ruler of the gods. Psyche stands behind Cupid. Other gods can be identified by their attributes (personal emblems). They include Juno with her peacock, Hercules with his club and Mercury with his caduceus. The composition is after a print by Jacopo Caraglio or Agostino Veneziano.
C87|1|1|This plate is painted with a powerful allegorical depiction of the devastating impact of the Sack of Rome by rebellious soldiers of Charles V’s Imperial army in May 1527. This catastrophic event resulted in murder, destruction and pillage on a momentous scale, and the humiliation of Pope Clement VII, who had been party to an anti-Imperial alliance. In the foreground, a triumphant two-headed Imperial eagle surveys a group of dead and defeated Roman soldiers. Behind them, uncompromisingly classical Renaissance architecture recalls the power and grandeur of Rome before the Sack.<br><br>The plate is attributed to Francesco Xanto Avelli, familiarly known as Xanto. Much is known about the work of Xanto, due to the information that he inscribed on many of his works, the wide-ranging and imaginatively composed subjects that he painted to a high standard, and his prolific output. Xanto was from Rovigo in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, but by at least 1530 he was working in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In 1531 Xanto married into a family of Urbino potters. He is mentioned in Urbino documents until 1542, but he is not known to have had his own workshop.<br><br>Unusually for a maiolica painter, between 1530 and 1542 Xanto frequently signed and often dated his work, so that it’s development during that period is well documented. This unsigned plate is attributed to Xanto working in Urbino around 1528-30, when it is generally accepted that on some works he was using the initials ‘F.R’ as a signature, or inscriptions terminating with a flourish resembling a ‘y’.<br><br>Xanto’s literary aspirations and knowledge of Italian poetry were exceptional for a maiolica painter. In addition to inscribing extracts from poems on maiolica, in the 1530s he wrote a sonnet sequence flattering Francesco Maria Della Rovere I, Duke of Urbino.<br><br>Urbino was renowned for its ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. Xanto, who specialised in ‘istoriato’ maiolica, was very skilled at exploiting the form of a piece in the arrangement of his composition.<br><br>Xanto, whose iconography often draws creatively on figures derived from prints, is indebted here for several figures and the overall concept of his composition to Giovanni Antonio Da Brescia’s engraving‘Virtus Deserta’, of 1500-1505, after a drawing by Andrea Mantegna.<br><br>The Sack was the subject of other works by Xanto, some of them inscribed with an allusion to the commonly held belief that Rome suffered as retribution for its lax morality and the Pope’s greed. The Sack was also depicted by Xanto’s fellow maiolica painter and close disciple during the early 1530s, Giulio da Urbino (see J. V. G. Mallet, ‘Xanto. Pottery-painter, Poet, Man of the Intalian Renaissance’, London 2007, pp. 18-20; Dora Thornton, ‘An allegory of the Sack of Rome by Giulio da Urbino’, in ‘Apollo’, June 1999, pp. 11-18; and, for Giulio da Urbino, C74 here).<br><br>There are four small stilt marks on the front of the plate, where it rested on supports during firing. On the underside, which is glazed white, there are three concentric lines in relief near the rim.
C89|1|1|Two Venetian families, Michiel and Gritti, are represented by the coat of arms on this spectacular dish, probably made for Giacomo Michiel and his wife, Laura Gritti, the Doge’s niece. It was painted by Xanto, who signed and inscribed more works than any other maiolica painter. The inscription on the back includes the verse ‘Neptune triumphs here in the salt waves on which rejoices the amorous naked Star between her sons, and fair and lovely comes crowned with flowers and leaves’. The complex allegory probably celebrates Venice as a victorious maritime power. As was his usual practice, Xanto extracted figures from various print sources and incorporated them into his composition.
C90|1|1|This shallow bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The scene depicted on the front of the bowl is ‘The Resurrection of Christ’. In the centre, Christ rises from the tomb. He has a halo, indicative of his holiness. With the index finger of his raised right hand he points to Heaven, to which he will ascend. He holds a flag in his left hand. To his left, an angel holds the tomb's cover. Three Roman soldiers tasked with guarding Christ’s body are startled by the drama in their midst. The bowl is painted in blue, orange, yellow, buff, green, turquoise, manganese purple, black, and opaque white, and in gold and red lustre.<br><br>The underside is glazed in pale buff with some turquoise staining. In the centre it has an inscription in blue-grey (see ‘Inscriptions/Marks’ below) which translates, ‘On the third day he rose from the dead’, the date 1535, and a mark resembling a reversed ‘S’ above a foliate scroll in ruby lustre. Beyond the foot ring it is painted with four groups of foliage in yellow and ruby lustre.<br><br>Christ’s Resurrection, which occurred early on the third day after his Crucifixion, was reported in all four gospels in the bible. Christ is not physically present in the Evangelists’ descriptions of the discovery of the empty tomb, but Matthew (28: 2-4) comes closest to evoking the scene as depicted on the bowl, with the presence of the angel holding the cover, and the guards.<br><br>The bowl is attributed to an a maiolica painter who was initially identified as the ‘L’ painter, as four works by his hand, dated 1533, are inscribed as made in Urbino and marked with the letter ‘L’. However, this painter is now identified as ‘Lu: Ur:’. This is because a panel in his hand, made in 1536 as part of a Persian history series by Xanto and assistants, is marked ‘Lu: Ur:’. The mark is presumed to indicate that the painter called himself something like ‘Luca (or Lucio) da Urbino’ (see Timothy Wilson, ‘The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting’, Turin 2018, cat. no. 115). His style of painting, way of arranging the date and inscription, and use of a mark resembling an ‘S’ around the years 1533-5 show the influence of Xanto (for whom see, for example, C88). It is likely that C90 was painted in Urbino and lustred in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s renowned workshop in Gubbio. Alternatively, it may have been made in Urbino and lustred there at an outstation of the Andreoli workshop.
C91|1|1|This plate depicts several episodes from the story of Glaucus and Scylla, which is recounted in the first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’. The book is redolent with stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid tells the story of Glaucus and Scylla in several places (Book 7, line 233; Book 13, lines 899-967; Book 14, lines 1-68). Glaucus, a fisherman, became a sea god after eating magic grass. He fell in love with Scylla, who rejected him. He asked the sorceress Circe for help, but she loved Glaucus herself and jealously poisoned Scylla’s bathing pool. As a result, Scylla’s lower body was transformed into barking hounds, repulsing Glaucus.<br><br>Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. This plate was painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli, familiarly known as Xanto. On the right, Xanto shows Glaucus as a fisherman. On the left, his transformation has begun with his feet and he hastens to the sea. Scylla is in the pool. In the background, Circe sits on a cliff, gazing out to sea. The colours are blue, brown, pale buff, yellow, pale and dark green, black, and opaque white, with gold and ruby lustre. There are three stilt marks on the front of the plate, where it rested on supports during firing.<br><br>Much is known about the work of Xanto, due to the information that he inscribed on many of his works, the wide-ranging and imaginatively composed subjects that he painted to a high standard, and his prolific output. Xanto was from Rovigo in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, but by at least 1530 he was working in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In 1531 Xanto married into a family of Urbino potters. He is mentioned in Urbino documents until 1542, but he is not known to have had his own workshop.<br><br>Unusually for a maiolica painter, between 1530 and 1542 Xanto frequently signed and often dated his work, so that it’s development during that period is well documented. The underside of this plate is glazed in off-white with much green staining and painted with foliage scrolls in ruby lustre. In the centre, Xanto has inscribed in black his name and the date, 1535, as well as a description of the subject, which translates, ‘Scylla languishes in the evil spring, and Glaucus [turned into a] fish.’ (See ‘Inscriptions/Marks’).<br><br>Xanto’s literary aspirations and knowledge of Italian poetry were exceptional for a maiolica painter. In addition to inscribing extracts from poems on maiolica, in the 1530s he wrote a sonnet sequence flattering Francesco Maria Della Rovere I, Duke of Urbino.<br><br>Urbino was renowned for its ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece, as on the front of this plate. Xanto specialised in ‘istoriato’ maiolica. His iconography often draws creatively on figures derived from prints, which is the case here. Three of the four figures here can be traced to prints, including the figure of Glaucus on the left, a reversed copy of the man in Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving, ‘Naked Man Pursuing a Naiad’, which is after an ancient bas-relief.<br><br>The lustre is likely to have been added in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s renowned workshop in Gubbio, a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy<br><br>For other examples in the Wallace Collection of maiolica showing more than one episode from a story painted over a single surface see C125, C127 and C132.
C92|1|1|In a cloudy sky, Juno, in Classical mythology queen of the Olympian gods and wife of Jupiter, their king, is seated on her chariot. It is drawn by two peacocks, birds traditionally associated with her. A putto – a naked, winged boy – holds out a dish to her. Another stands beside a quiver of arrows while a third is seated by a flaming helmet. At top centre, suspended from a ducal coronet, is a beribboned shield bearing the arms of Gonzaga impaling Paleologo of Montferrat. The colours are blue, buff, yellow, orange, red-brown, green, black, and opaque white. There are four small stilt marks on the front of the plate, where it rested on supports during firing. The underside is glazed pale buff and has some blue and turquoise staining. It is inscribed in grey-blue in the centre with the subject, which translates as ‘Of the chariot of Juno’ (see Marks/Inscriptions below). It is painted with yellow concentric circles around the rim’s stepped outer edge, its inner edge, and around its foot ring.<br><br>This plate is likely to have been made as part of a tableware service on the occasion of or soon after the marriage of Federico Gonzaga (1500-1540), Duke of Mantua, to Margherita Paleologo (1510-1566), daughter of Guglielmo Paleologo, Marquess of Montferrat. Their marriage took place in 1531, and the couple’s son, the future Duke Francesco, was born in 1533. The depiction of Juno would be appropriate in the context of a marriage as she was the protectress of women, who watched over marriage and childbirth. The plate could, however, have been made at any point after the couple's marriage until Nicola da Urbino's death, which occurred in the winter of 1537/8. A few pieces from the service have been identified. C92 seems intended to pair with another plate, depicting the Classical god Mars in his chariot, in the Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche in Faenza (no. 7073).<br><br>The plate is attributed to Nicola di Gabriele Sbraghe, known as Nicola da Urbino, who was one of the most accomplished maiolica painters working in Urbino from around 1518 until the 1530s. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Nicola’s talent contributed significantly to the success of Urbino ‘istoriato’ painting, in which the whole surface of a piece is painted with a figurative subject. Five pieces of maiolica are marked with Nicola’s name, enabling further works to be attributed to him and his stylistic development to be charted. C92 is typical of Nicola’s late style of painting, described by John Mallet as being characterised by relatively loose handling and much use of rust-coloured shadow on the flesh.
C93|1|1|Against a false accusation of being unchaste, the virgin priestess of Vesta, Tuccia, proves her innocence by successfully carrying a sieve full of water from the River Tiber to the Temple of the goddess of the hearth, Vesta. On the left, Tuccia enters the Temple holding the sieve, her identified reinforced by the letters ‘TVV’ at her feet. Two women stand behind her in the doorway. On the right, a priest and his attendant stand close to the sacred hearth and its eternal flame, the inscription on the hearth’s pediment confirming that the scene takes place in the Temple of Vesta. Two women on the right watch as Tuccia approaches. The colours are blue, brown, buff, tan, orange, yellow, manganese purple, olive green, pale copper green, black, and opaque white. There are five stilt marks on the front of the plate, where it rested on supports during firing. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining. The centre is inscribed in black with the ‘X’ mark of the maiolica painter, Xanto, the date 1538, and the subject depicted, which translates as ‘Tuccia carried the water in the sieve to the Temple’ (see Marks/Inscriptions below).<br><br>It is possible that, with the exclusion of the priest and the Vestal Virgin Tuccia, the other figures on this plate represent the other five Vestal Virgins who, with Tuccia, attended the eternal flame in the Temple of Vesta, in the vicinity of ancient Rome.<br><br>Ancient sources for the story of Tuccia include Valerius Maximus’s ‘Factorum Dictorumque Memorabilium’, IX, the likely source for the subject here.<br><br>The plate was made in Urbino, where it was painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli, familiarly known as Xanto. Much is known about the work of Xanto, due to the information that he inscribed on many of his works, the wide-ranging and imaginatively composed subjects that he painted to a high standard, and his prolific output. Xanto was from Rovigo in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, but by at least 1530 he was working in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In 1531 Xanto married into a family of Urbino potters. He is mentioned in Urbino documents until 1542, but he is not known to have had his own workshop.<br><br>Unusually for a maiolica painter, between 1530 and 1542 Xanto frequently signed and often dated his work, as he has done here, so that it’s development during that period is well documented.<br><br>Xanto’s literary aspirations and knowledge of Italian poetry were exceptional for a maiolica painter. In addition to inscribing extracts from poems on maiolica, in the 1530s he wrote a sonnet sequence flattering Francesco Maria Della Rovere I, Duke of Urbino.<br><br>Urbino was renowned for its ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a single scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece, as is the case here. Xanto depicted the same scene at least five times.<br><br>A distinguishing feature of Xanto’s work is his sophisticated and creative use of a ‘cut and paste’ technique in which he copied figures from prints and changed their identity, clothing and context for inclusion in his compositions. He drew most frequently on prints by Marcantonio Raimondi and his associates after Raphael and his school. Print sources have been identified for all seven figures here: The women are taken from Gian Giacomo Caraglio’s engraving, ‘The Muses and Pierides’, after Rosso Fiorentino. The priest and the figure next to him are derived from Raimondi’s ‘Martyrdom of St Lawrence’ print after Baccio Bandinelli.
C94|1|1|The subject depicted on this shallow, low-footed bowl is ‘The Bull of Phalaris’. In the foreground, Phalaris’s bronze bull is positioned over a fire; a small dog stands inquisitively behind the bull. In a draped alcove beyond, the tyrant Phalaris is seated on a simple throne, among a group of courtiers. He is speaking to the man seated next to him. In the background to the left, two men stand by a broken arch, beyond which is a building with an arched doorway. In the distance, two men walk to the left. The colours are blue, brown, stone, orange, yellow, turquoise, black, and opaque white. The underside is thinly glazed greyish-white with some thick blobs which show a slightly turquoise colouring. It is painted with four concentric yellow circles, two on the edge of the rim and one each at the top and bottom of the foot.<br>Phalaris was a tyrant in sixth-century BCE Agrigentum (modern Agrigento) in Sicily. Notorious for his cruelty, he is reputed to have burnt his victims alive in a bronze bull that had been created by Perillus, who was the first to be burnt in it. The story, for which Pliny’s ‘Natural History’ (Book XXXIV, 89) is a source, was well-known in the sixteenth century.<br>The painting is stylistically close to the work of Nicola di Gabriele Sbraghe, known as Nicola da Urbino, and is by a maiolica painter in his circle. Classical architecture, which is depicted here, is exceptionally well represented on maiolica painted by Nicola, who worked in Urbino from around 1518 until the the 1530s. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Nicola’s talent contributed significantly to the success of Urbino ‘istoriato’ painting, in which the whole surface of a piece is painted with a figurative subject.
C96|1|1|This screw-topped flask is of ‘pilgrim bottle’ form, its neck opening into a flattened oval body resting on a spreading foot. The foot is pierced on either side as if for threading a carrying cord which passed through the open foot and up through the suspension loop on the handle on each shoulder. The handles are both moulded in the form of a satyr’s mask, the horns looped as if to act as suspension rings for a carrying cord. The flask is painted with a continuous landscape, with, on one side, a subject from the Old Testament, David decapitating Goliath, and on the other side with a number of soldiers in Classical armour carrying standards. The outer edge of the foot is yellow with an orange line running through it. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, black, and opaque white. The underside of the foot is glazed white. The top of the cap has been broken off and replaced in plaster.<br><br>This vessel form has Roman precedents, and Near Eastern prototypes have also been suggested as a model. From the later fifteenth century, silver examples provided the models for flasks in maiolica, glass or metal. They became known as ‘pilgrim flasks’ after the leather or metal bottles of similar shape that were historically used by travellers, including pilgrims. On portable flasks, the suspension loops would have been threaded with cord or chain for carrying. The suspension loops on the handles and the holes pierced through the foot of C96 were not of practical use, as maiolica was too heavy and fragile to be used by travellers. But these features endured and sometimes inspired decorative embellishments. This is the case with the suspension loops on a Venetian glass example in the Wallace Collection (C517). The glass body below them is painted with tassels, as if the tassels were suspended from the loops. Pilgrim flasks would have been placed on a credenza, or tiered buffet. They were often used in pairs for red and white wine or water and wine. At the Palazzo del Tè in Mantua in 1528 Giulio Romano depicted a metal example in a wine cooler in a fresco depicting ‘The Banquet of Cupid and Psyche’. The form remained popular, an example with a shorter neck being depicted by Paolo Veronese in ‘The Banquet in the House of Levi’ in 1573 (Accademia, Venice).<br><br>Screw-thread caps and necks similar to those on silver flasks were challenging to produce in ceramic form. Writing around 1557 in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’ (‘The three books of the potter’s art’), Cipriano Piccolpasso gave a detailed account of the making of the ceramic versions, observing, ‘I would not wish to pass thus lightly over this secret, because it is a thing too beautiful and too ingenious and very difficult.’ (Ronald Lightbown and Alan Caiger-Smith (eds), 'Cipriano Piccolpasso, "The three books of the potter’s art"’, 2 vols, London 1980, II, pp. 19–22).<br><br>This flask is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas.<br><br>The story of the Israelite youth David singlehandedly killing the Philistine warrior Goliath, who was almost three metres tall, is told in the Old Testament, in the first book of Samuel, chapter 17. Saul, the Israelite king, was at war with the Philistines. Goliath challenged the Israelites to send someone to fight him in single combat, after which, he said, the winner’s side would be slaves to their enemy. David volunteered to fight with Goliath and received Saul’s blessing. Armed with only a stone and sling, David struck Goliath in the forehead and killed him. Taking Goliath’s sword, David decapitated him and, seeing their champion dead, the Philistines fled. On the flask, David stands poised by Goliath’s body, the sword raised in both his hands, before beheading the fallen warrior (Samuel I, 17:48–51). The soldiers on the other side of the flask seem likely to represent either the retreating Philistines or the triumphant Israelites.<br><br>The painter of C96 may have taken inspiration from a print for his depiction of David and Goliath. The following are possible candidates: An engraving of the subject by Giovanni Battista Scultori of about 1540, after Giulio Romano’s fresco in the Palazzo Te, Mantua, shows Goliath lying on his back, as on the flask, but with David’s body turned to the left (with thanks to Timothy Wilson). In an anonymous print after Maarten van Heemskerck of around 1556, Goliath is also shown lying on his back, and with a shield on his left arm, as on the flask, but David is to the right of Goliath. Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving of the subject, dating to 1520–1525, is after a fresco by Perino del Vaga in the Vatican loggias in Rome, which were painted by Raphael and his assistants around 1517–19. In Raimondi’s print, Goliath lies on his front, but David is turned towards him, as on the flask. Soldiers are depicted in these prints, as they are on the other side of C96.<br><br>The story of the seemingly weak David defeating the strong Goliath was a popular subject in sixteenth-century art. Perhaps this was in part because at a time of frequent warfare it inspired hope among those who perceived themselves to be on the weaker side.<br><br>This flask was made in the small but prestigious town of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when the flask was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.
C98|1|1|The interior of this broad-rimmed bowl is painted with an early episode from the story of Persephone, which is recounted in the first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’. The scene is set in Sicily. Six young women, Persephone and her companions, are gathered in a woodland glade. Four of them are naked; one of the naked women holds flowers. Lake Pergusa and a mountainous landscape are in the background. The sky glows pink from the setting sun. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, black, grey and opaque white, with ruby lustre. The underside is covered with a thin bluish-white glaze, stained with lustre in patches and painted with two yellow concentric circles, one around the foot ring and one at the junction of the rim and wall. The inscription, which translates as ‘Proserpina with her companions’, is painted at the centre in dark blue. There are stilt marks on the rim, from where the bowl rested on supports during firing.<br>Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ is redolent with stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology. It was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. Ovid tells the story of Persephone in Book 5, lines 341–571. The scene depicted on the bowl takes inspiration from the episode in the story when Persephone, the daughter of Jupiter, king of the Olympian gods, and Ceres, goddess of Agriculture, happily gathers flowers in competition with her friends (lines 385–395). While gathering flowers, she was seen by Pluto, king of Hades (the Underworld), who abducted her and took her to his kingdom. During her frantic search for her lost daughter, Ceres learnt that Persephone was in Hades, where she was queen, and begged Jupiter to rescue her. He decreed that Persephone would spend six months of each year on earth with her mother and six months in Hades with Pluto.<br>The bowl was painted by the anonymous maiolica painter known as the ‘Painter of the Orpheus Basin’, who also painted Wallace Collection C95 and C99. C98 was probably made in Guido di Merlino’s workshop in Urbino. The Orpheus Basin in the Cité de la Céramique at Sèvres, from which the painter's name is derived, is marked as having been made in Guido di Merlino’s workshop, which was in Urbino, and dated 30 March 1542. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas. Among workshops in Urbino producing ‘istoriato’ maiolica around the 1540s, Guido di Merlino’s workshop appears to have been second in importance only to Guido Durantino’s workshop.<br>C98 was lustred either in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio or, perhaps, at the outstation of the Andreoli workshop in Urbino. Gubbio is a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century it was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. In 1538 Giorgio’s son Vincenzo took the lease of a workshop in Urbino and it is likely that the workshop was adding lustre to pieces made in other Urbino workshops.
C99|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted with a scene from Roman history, the presentation of the head of the murdered Roman general Pompey to his opponent, Caesar. On the right, between draped columns, Caesar leans forward in his seat to receive five men advancing from the left, the one in front bearing Pompey’s head on a dish. The colours are blue, purple, orange, buff, yellow, turquoise, grey black and opaque white, with ruby lustre. There are three spur marks on the rim.The underside is thinly glazed white, with pale blue patches. It is painted with three concentric yellow circles, one around the base, one at the juncture of the well and rim, and one around the rim edge. The inscription at the centre of the underside is painted in blue.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from Roman history. The subject depicted on this bowl is taken from the first century CE writer Plutarch’s ‘Life of Pompey’ in ‘Parallel Lives’, his influential account of the lives of eminent Greeks and Romans. The celebrated Roman military leader and politician Pompey, known in his lifetime by the sobriquet Pompey the Great, opposed his former ally Caesar in the Roman civil war (49–45 BCE). Following Caesar’s victory near Pharsalus, Greece, on 9 August 48 BCE, Caesar pursued Pompey, who fled to Egypt by sea. Pompey hoped that the teenaged ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy XIII, would grant him refuge. But following the strategy recommended by his tutor Theodotus of Chios, Ptolemy had Pompey murdered as he approached the shore. Pompey’s corpse was beheaded and the rest of his body burnt on a funeral pyre. Caesar arrived in Egypt shortly afterwards. Describing Caesar’s response to being presented with Pompey’s head, Plutarch wrote, ‘When they came to present the head, he turned from it, and the person that brought it, as a sight of horror. He received the seal, but it was with tears.’<br>The inscription on the bowl’s underside, which translates as ‘The rich gift of the honoured head’, describes the subject depicted on its front. The phrase is taken from a sonnet about dissimulation by the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch. Petrarch’s sonnet 102, ‘Cesare, poi che ‘l traditor d’Egitto’, opens with the lines, ‘When Ptolemy the Egyptian traitor/made him a gift of Pompey’s honoured head,/Caesar, hiding his obvious delight,/had tears in his eyes, so it is written:’.<br>The bowl was painted by the anonymous maiolica painter known as the ‘Painter of the Orpheus Basin’, who painted Wallace Collection C95 and C98. The inscriptions on the undersides of C99 and C95 are by the same hand. C99 was probably made in Guido di Merlino’s workshop in Urbino. The Orpheus Basin in the Cité de la Céramique at Sèvres, from which the ‘Painter of the Orpheus Basin’ derives his name, is marked as having been made in Guido di Merlino’s workshop, which was in Urbino, and dated 1542. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas. Among workshops in Urbino producing ‘istoriato’ maiolica around the 1540s, Guido di Merlino’s workshop appears to have been second in importance only to Guido Durantino’s workshop.<br>C99 was lustred either in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio or, perhaps, at the outstation of the Andreoli workshop in Urbino. Gubbio is a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century it was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. In 1538 Giorgio’s son Vincenzo took the lease of a workshop in Urbino and it is likely that the workshop was adding lustre to pieces made in other Urbino workshops.
C101|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is from a large and prestigious service illustrating episodes from the Second Punic War, which was fought between the Romans and the Carthaginians between 219 and 217 BCE. The Carthaginians were led by the indefatigable young military commander Hannibal. The event depicted here, ‘Hannibal crossing the Tagus by Night’, occurred in 219 BCE and preceded the commencement of the war with Rome. In Spain, Hannibal had successfully attacked some cities of the Vaccaei tribe as a preamble to his intended war with the Romans. Following this successful expedition, Hannibal’s army was attacked near the Tagus river by some of his defeated foes. Hannibal avoided spontaneous retaliation, but he had a plan to overpower them: crossing the river while the enemy slept, he set up his defences, leaving the river crossing open with just enough space for the enemy to cross it and secure a footing on the bank occupied by his troops. Hannibal’s plan was for his cavalry to attack the enemy while they were crossing the river on foot to engage in battle; he posted his infantry and elephants on the bank. Hannibal’s strategy resulted in victory for the Carthaginians. The atmospheric night-time scene depicted here shows Hannibal’s army crossing the Tagus to implement his plan. They are setting up their defences beneath a dark, cloudy night sky illuminated by a crescent moon. On the right Hannibal’s soldiers are setting up the defences by torch light and two of his forty elephants are visible on the river bank, while in the left foreground his cavalry is still crossing the river, with the enemy’s tents behind them, on the further side of the river. The bowl’s underside is glazed white, with some turquoise staining. It is painted with three concentric yellow circles, one around the edge, one around the juncture of the well and the rim, and one around the foot ring. The subject is inscribed in blue within the foot ring (see Marks/Inscriptions) and translates, ‘Hannibal passed the Tagus by night and deliberately leaves the ford open to the enemy’. The colours on the bowl are blue, orange, yellow, green, black, grey, and opaque white.<br>During the Renaissance the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity and artists often drew their subject-matter from the history of Rome. One of the most widely consulted texts was written by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE). His ‘History of Rome’ originally comprised 142 books, of which 35 survive. Livy’s ‘History of Rome’ was the source text for the maiolica service that included the Wallace Collection’s bowl. It was one of the most ambitious maiolica services produced during the sixteenth century.<br>C101 illustrates the earliest subject in the narrative sequence among the more than 40 surviving pieces from the service. Fifteen recorded plates and bowls painted with the earliest subjects illustrated in the narrative sequence, including C101, have rhyming couplets describing their subjects inscribed on their backs. These would have been provided by a scholarly advisor. Livy described the scene depicted on C101 in Book XXI, chapter 5 of his ‘History of Rome’. No design sources have been identified for the scenes depicted on pieces from the service.<br>The fifteen pieces illustrating the earliest subjects in the narrative sequence have a paler oval area in their upper section where a coat of arms was intended to be delineated or was painted in but removed before firing. This can be seen at the top left on C101. Perhaps it is evidence of an aristocratic commission that was cancelled. There are indications that the service may have been made for the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany or acquired by them before 1600.<br>Three trilobed basins and twenty-six plates from the service, depicting later subjects in the sequence, are inscribed on the back with rhyming couplets preceded by sequential numbers between 41 and 114.<br>There is much consistency in the styles of both the painting and the inscriptions of the surviving pieces from the service. However, given the large scale of the project more than one unknown painter may have been involved. The service was made around 1550–1560 in the workshop of Guido Durantino, which was active in Urbino for fifty years or more. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Guido Durantino appears to have become the maiolica supplier of choice to Duke Francesco Maria Della Rovere I of Urbino and his son Guidubaldo II. Guido Durantino was born in Castel Durante and was first mentioned in documents in Urbino in 1516. By 1541 he and his son Orazio had adopted the surname Fontana. Guido probably died soon after making a new will in 1576. For Guido Durantino’s workshop see also Wallace Collection C97 and C100.
C103|1|1|This vase is a hybrid, the foot being a replacement and not original to the bowl.<br>The bowl is circular with a turned-out rim and swelling base that curves in above the circular spreading foot. A pair of opposed handles are each formed from a pair of snakes with heads turned away from each other and resting on the rim, their bodies terminating where the vase swells outwards. Four spur marks are clearly visible on the rim. The bowl exterior is painted with a continuous landscape comprising a stretch of water, mountains, rocky outcrops and towns.<br>The bowl’s interior is painted throughout with a subject from Classical antiquity, possibly 'The Continence of Scipio'. It is set in a similar landscape to that on the exterior, with water in the middle ground and a town in the background. In the left foreground, there are six figures in armour, the majority turned towards a group of men and women approaching from the right, one of the women holding a baby. One of the men in armour, with his back to the approaching figures, has his foot on a metal vase lying on the ground. The soldier to his left holds a raised sword. To the right of centre, on the bowl wall close to the feet of the figures on the right, there are the head and outstretched arm of a winged putto, perhaps intended as Cupid. In the centre middle ground two soldiers move towards the water from a densely wooded, rocky outcrop on the right. One of them is holding a large gold vase, while a third soldier crouches on the bank, looking towards them and holding a small gold-coloured object in one hand while he points towards the water with his other hand.<br>There is a dark blue band at both the top and outer edge of the foot, flanking a simple yellow, brown and green landscape. The colours overall are blue, yellow, orange, copper green, olive green, turquoise, manganese purple, black, and opaque white. The inside of the foot is glazed white.<br>During the Renaissance the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity and artists often drew their subject-matter from the history of Rome. It has been suggested that the previously unidentified subject shown in the bowl of C103 could be ‘The Continence of Scipio’, although this would be an unconventional way of depicting the subject (with thanks to Rembrandt Duits for this suggestion). Considered to be an example of exemplary forbearance and compassion, the continence of Scipio is recounted by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) in Book 26, 50 of his ‘History of Rome’, one of the Roman texts most widely consulted during the Renaissance. When the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio (236 BCE–185 BCE) led a successful military campaign against the Carthaginians at New Carthage in Iberia in 209 BCE his troops took a beautiful young woman prisoner. Scipio discovered that she was betrothed to Allucius, a leader of the Celtiberians. Scipio summoned Allucius and the young woman’s parents. Hearing of Allucius’s love for his fiancée, Scipio returned her to him unharmed, requiring only as a condition that Allucius would henceforth be a friend to Rome. The young woman’s family had brought much gold with them, expecting to pay a ransom for her return, but as the only condition of her return was Allucius’s allegiance to Rome they offered the gold to Scipio as a gift. He promised to accept it, ordered the gift to be laid before his feet, called Allucius to him and presented the gift to him as a wedding present.<br>In depictions of this subject Scipio is usually seated and Allucius wears civilian clothes, not armour. However, the scene painted in the bowl of C103 could be interpreted as showing the main protagonists in the centre foreground: Scipio holding a sword, Allucius beside him, adopting a submissive posture, with his foot on the gift Scipio has had laid before his feet, and the beautiful young woman standing behind him, accompanied by her family. In the background, a soldier holds another gift. The winged putto in the foreground could be intended as Cupid, god of Love, in allusion to its being Allucius’s love for his fiancée that moves Scipio to return her to him.<br>The vase was probably made in the Fontana family workshop in Urbino. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. The owner of a prestigious workshop, Guido Durantino, and his son Orazio had adopted the surname Fontana by 1541. Guido Durantino is first recorded in Urbino documents in 1516. His workshop was active in Urbino for fifty years or more. He probably died not long after making a new will in 1576. In 1565 Orazio set up his own workshop in Urbino. Following Orazio’s death in 1571 his workshop was run by his nephew Flaminio Fontana (see C107) until its management appears to have been taken over by relatives of the Fontana, the Patanazzi, before 1580 (see C115 and C147). A larger but comparable piece, described as a cistern, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 41.100.282), is attributed as possibly by the workshop of Orazio Fontana around 1545.
C104|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted over the upper service with a subject derived from the Old Testament book of Genesis, Abraham and the Angels on the plains of Mamre. On the left, Abraham kneels on stony ground, his arms outstretched towards three winged figures who stand before him. In the middle distance to the left there are buildings on a rise. In the background there is a stretch of water, and beyond it a mountainous landscape dotted with buildings. In the sky, to the right of the centre, there is an oval shield of arms in a strapwork frame. The arms comprise a brown bear on its hind legs, facing left, on a yellow background, described in heraldic terms as ‘or, a bear rampant sable’. The colours are blue, red-brown, pale buff, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, black, grey, and opaque white. The underside is glazed pale buff and is painted with concentric yellow circles, two on the rim edge, one at the juncture of the well and rim, and one around the foot ring, within which an inscription in blue provides the subject, ‘Abramo’ (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>The subject is taken from Genesis 18, 1–5. The encounter between Abraham and the three strangers is described as taking place at Mamre, which was in the vicinity of modern-day Hebron, a city in the West Bank, about 24 miles south of Jerusalem. Although they are depicted as angels on the bowl, the biblical text is ambiguous concerning the identities of the three strangers. According to the text, ‘The Lord appeared to him [Abraham] by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, “My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on – seeing that you have come your servant’s way.” They replied, “Do as you have said.”’ It is only later in the text, when they are no longer with Abraham, that they are described as angels (Genesis 19, 1).<br>The bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The composition is based on a woodcut by Salomon Bernard in ‘Quadrins historiques de la Bible’, first published by Jean de Tournes in Lyons in 1553. It was also illustrated in Damiano Maraffi’s ‘Figure del Vecchio Testamento con versi toscani’, which was published in Lyons in 1554.<br>C104 may have been made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. The ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino, it was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>The coat of arms on this bowl was used by numerous families, including, for example, the Paolucci. Consequently, it has not yet been possible to identify the family for whom a service with this coat of arms was made. A plate in the Louvre with a scene from Caesar’s ‘Gallic Wars’ has the same shield of arms and a similar strapwork frame. It is attributed to Urbino and dated to 1540–60. It appears to be from the same unknown workshop as C104 and could perhaps have belonged to the same service. The arms on the Louvre plate are tentatively associated with the Orso family of Venice.
C105|1|1|This plate is painted with an episode from the early history of Rome as recounted by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) in his ‘History of Rome’, Book I, 60. Lucius Junius Brutus marches on Rome in order to deliver the city from its tyrannical king, Tarquin the Proud, in about 510 BCE. In the foreground, Brutus rides his horse towards Rome, accompanied by the first of his followers, on foot and on horseback, all of them dressed for battle. The walled city of Rome is in the middle ground on the left. In the background to the right of the city, beyond some trees, there is a stretch of water with mountains, buildings and bridges. The sun is low in the sky. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, manganese purple, pale green, copper green, turquoise, black, and opaque white. Three spur marks are visible on the front of the plate. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining and is painted with three yellow concentric circles, one at the outer rim edge, one at the inner rim edge, and one around the foot ring. The inscription painted in blue capital letters within the foot ring describes the subject (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>During the Renaissance the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity and artists often drew their subject-matter from the history of Rome. One of the most widely consulted texts was written by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE). His ‘History of Rome’ originally comprised 142 books, of which 35 survive. Livy describes Brutus’s successful defeat of the tyrannical king of Rome, his uncle, Tarqunius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) in Book I of his ‘History of Rome’. Secretly championing a more democratic system for governing Rome than a monarchy, Brutus had been waiting for a suitable opportunity to overthrow Tarquin. The rape of Brutus’s fellow soldier Collatinus’s wife Lucretia by the king’s son, Sextus Tarquinius, at Collatia, and Lucretia’s resultant suicide (see C108), provided Brutus with the catalyst to call for an attack on Tarquin and his supporters. Brutus’s stirring call for action at Collatia resulted in the recruitment of an armed body of the populace to march on Rome. In Rome, his impassioned speech against the tyranny of the Tarquins inspired insurrection. Tarquin and his sons were exiled. Brutus was elected a consul of the newly established Roman Republic in 509 BCE and died in combat in 507 BCE.<br>The plate is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>This plate originally formed part of a service, together with another plate in the Wallace Collection (C106), on which a subsequent episode from Brutus’s delivery of Rome is depicted. The two plates appear to have been painted by the same unknown artist, they are painted in the same colours, and have similarly located inscriptions in blue capital letters on their undersides. There is no further information about the service to which they belonged. The plates were probably in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.
C106|1|1|This plate is painted with an episode that took place during the early history of Rome, in 509 BCE, as recounted by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) in his ‘History of Rome’. Lucius Junius Brutus is being joyously welcomed to their camp at Ardea by the tyrannical Roman king Tarquinius Superbus’s army as they rebelliously rally to Brutus, who has led the successful revolt against Tarquin family oppression. Beyond some clumps of grass, with a tree on the right, Brutus stands on stony ground at the centre of the plate, flanked by a small group of soldiers. All the men are in military dress and gesture upwards with an index finger. They are at the edge of the camp, with five tents visible on the right. Behind them on the left are battlements and buildings. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, manganese purple, pale green, copper green, turquoise, black, and opaque white. Three spur marks are visible on the front of the plate. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining and is painted with three yellow concentric circles, one at the outer rim edge, one at the inner rim edge, and one around the foot ring. The inscription painted in blue capital letters within the foot ring describes the subject (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>During the Renaissance the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity and artists often drew their subject-matter from the history of Rome. Livy’s ‘History of Rome’ was one of the most widely consulted texts. It originally comprised 142 books, of which 35 survive. Livy recounted the events that led to the downfall of the Tarquin monarchy in Rome and the creation of the Roman Republic in Book I of his ‘History of Rome’. The episode depicted on this plate is described in Book I, 60.<br>The plate is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>This plate originally formed part of a service, together with another plate in the Wallace Collection (C105), on which an earlier episode from Brutus’s delivery of Rome from Tarquin oppression is depicted. For further details of the circumstances that led Brutus to incite rebellion against the Roman monarchy see C105. The two plates appear to have been painted by the same unknown artist, they are painted in the same colours, and have similarly located inscriptions in blue capital letters on their undersides. There is no further information about this service. The plates were probably made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.
C107|1|1|Probably made for Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, this monumental wine cooler bears his device of a turtle with a mast on its back, illustrating his motto, Festina lente (Hasten slowly). The inscription on its base indicates that it was made in Flaminio Fontana’s maiolica workshop in Urbino in 1574; Cosimo died in April 1574. Wine coolers were kept on or below a buffet, filled with ice, snow or cold water, to keep wine cool during meals. The decoration of this exceptionally large cooler combines white-ground grotesques, vigorously sculpted monsters and a Roman naval battle scene derived, unusually, from a drawing. The water-based theme was appropriate to a wine cooler.
C108|1|1|This broad-rimmed dish is painted at the centre with a subject from the semi-legendary early history of Rome, the suicide of a virtuous Roman noblewoman, Lucretia, after being raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the King of Rome, Tarqunius Superbus. At the centre of the dish, Lucretia stands in the middle of an enclosed space with a yellow ground and draped yellow curtains, with a dark blue mountainous landscape across a stretch of water behind her. Dressed in white, her legs crossed, she holds her left hand in front of her and looks up at the raised knife in her right hand, with which she is about to stab herself through the heart. This scene is encircled by a decorative band comprising green annulets flanked by single bands of a yellow and brown rope motif, which is closely replicated on the outer rim edge. An encircling yellow band with a repeating brown S-scroll delineates the transition from the outer section of the well to the rim. These are painted with symmetrically arrange white-ground grotesque ornament incorporating terminal figures, winged boys, opposed lions and sphinxes couchant, birds, dolphins, vases and stylised drapery. The colours are blue, buff, brown, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, and opaque white. The underside is thinly glazed white and is painted with 14 concentric yellow circles: two on the outer edge of the rim, three at the join of the rim and the well, three outside the foot ring and three around a yellow disc in the centre.<br>Before dying, Lucretia acknowledged that she was blameless for her rape, but she preferred to die at her own hand than appear to set a precedent for unchaste women to go unpunished. During the Renaissance, her self-sacrifice was celebrated as an exemplification of Roman virtue.<br>As recounted by the Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) in his ‘History of Rome’ (Book 1, 57–59), the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius was the catalyst for the rebellion against the Tarquin monarchy in Rome that resulted in the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE (see Wallace Collection C105, C106). Lucretia’s husband Collatinus, commander of the Roman garrison at Collatia, was away with Tarqunius Superbus’s army. Sextus Tarquinius took advantage of Collatinus’s absence from Collatia to visit his house with the intention of raping Lucretia. When Lucretia resisted, he threatened to dishonour her by killing both Lucretia and a slave, who he would lay naked by her side, giving the impression that she had been caught in adultery with a servant and killed. Under the threat of this dishonour, Lucretia capitulated. Afterwards, she summoned her father and husband each to come quickly to Collatia with a trusted friend because something dreadful had occurred. Collatinus was accompanied by Lucius Junius Brutus. Lucretia told them of the loss of her honour. Although they insisted that she was guiltless, Lucretia chose to kill herself to prove her innocence. After she had died, Brutus withdrew the knife from her chest and swore by it that he would bring the Roman monarchy to an end.<br>In addition to Livy’s ‘History of Rome’ there were other accounts of the rape of Lucretia available to sixteenth-century readers, including those by Livy’s close contemporary, Ovid, in his poem ‘Fasti’ (Book 2, 725–852), and the fourteenth-century writer Boccaccio, who described Lucretia as ‘the outstanding model of Roman chastity’ in his book ‘De Claris Mulieribus’ (Concerning Famous Women; chapter 46).<br>The idea that a woman’s virtue and integrity rendered her beautiful was appreciated in the Renaissance and the name Lucretia occurs on a popular type of maiolica known as ‘belle donne’ (beautiful women), in which a piece is painted with the bust of a named woman. ‘Belle donne’ inscribed ‘Lucretia’ are named either in honour of specific women of that name or to flatter or inspire through comparison of the recipient with the virtuous heroine of Classical antiquity (see Wallace Collection C15). Lucretia is named as one of four renowned figures from Classical antiquity on Wallace Collection C148, along with Homer, Ovid and Faustina.<br>C108 was probably made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, which was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>White-ground grotesque ornament became very fashionable for maiolica decoration from the early 1560s, Urbino being the leading centre for its production. It was soon the most esteemed type of decoration produced there, superseding ‘istoriato’ decoration (the covering of a complete surface with a narrative scene) and remaining popular into the seventeenth century. Characterised by fanciful, symmetrically arranged motifs, grotesque ornament had been widely used in the decoration of maiolica in the early years of the sixteenth century, when it was applied to a darker background colour such as dark blue or orange (see Wallace Collection C63, C77). Grotesque ornament takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical antiquity, which fascinated the Italian cultural elite during the Renaissance. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century. The revival of interest in grotesque ornament for maiolica from the 1560s took some inspiration from the French architect Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau’s group of etchings, now known as the ‘Petites Grotesques’. These were published in France in two different editions, one in 1550 and the other, which was more extensive, in 1562. The leading exponent of white-ground grotesque decoration on maiolica appears to have been Orazio Fontana, who ran a workshop in Urbino from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana and then by relatives of the Fontana, the Patanazzi. Throughout, the workshop was the leading producer of high-quality white-ground grotesque maiolica. Grotesque ornament was one component of the emulation of the style of Roman antiquity in the Italian Renaissance that came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.
C111|1|1|This trilobate wine cooler stands on three lion’s paw feet. Between each of the three lobes of the wall there is a handle with its top formed as a grotesque mask with its mouth wide open. The bowl interior is painted with ‘The Triumph of Galatea’. The sea nymph Galatea stands on a cockleshell borne on the backs of two dolphins, holding the reins. She is being carried along in a triumphal procession, with hippocentaurs and other mythical sea-dwelling figures, with a trumpeter at the front and back. Other waterborne figures are dispersed across the sea. Three winged putti in the sky aim arrows from their bows at the scene below them. A fourth putto, just below the rim and directly above Galatea, looks down from a bank of clouds and appears to be holding a quiver. In the background there are mountainous islands and headlands with many buildings. Each lobe exterior is painted to resemble a deep blue nautilus shell mounted in gold and the spaces between the lobes are filled with acanthus foliage below a diamond-shaped motif. The rim is yellow. The colours are blue, brown, orange, yellow, pale and copper greens, manganese purple, greenish-grey, black, and opaque white. The interior of the base is glazed in a very pale buff.<br>The wine coolers that were incorporated into prestigious Renaissance maiolica tableware services were often their most monumental component. They were often trilobate in shape. Wine coolers of this form were described in Renaissance documents as ‘rinfrescatoio a triangolo’. The bowl was usually painted over the entire surface with a subject related to water (see Wallace Collection C107, C116). Maiolica on which a narrative or figurative scene is painted over an entire surface as if it were an artist’s canvas is described as ‘istoriato’ maiolica. The cooler would be filled with water or ice and containers of wine placed in it. An example in gold is depicted at the Palazzo Te, Mantua, in a fresco of ‘The Banquet of the Gods’, part of the decorative scheme painted by Giulio Romano in the Chamber of Cupid and Psyche between 1526 and 1528. In the fresco, the cooler is placed on the ground close to the credenza and a flask is being kept cool in it.<br>The source for the central foreground group and the four putti in the bowl of C111 is a print depicting ‘The Triumph of Galatea’ by Marcantonio Raimondi. The print is after Raphael’s fresco of the subject from 1511–12 at the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The print was a popular source of inspiration for maiolica painters and Limoges enamellers in the sixteenth century and was the model for the decoration of a Limoges painted enamel dish in the Wallace Collection (C587).<br>The first-century Roman writer Ovid told the story of the Sicilian sea-nymph Galatea in his epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’. With its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, the ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. Ovid recounts the story of Galatea in Book 13: 740–895. Galatea loved Acis, but was in her turn loved by the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Killed by the jealous Polyphemus, Acis was transformed into a river. Galatea was a popular subject on maiolica in the second half of the sixteenth century (see Wallace Collection C118 and C133).<br>Triumphal processions celebrating military heroes were a feature of life in ancient Roman. During the Renaissance, when the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity, the tradition was revived. Monarchs made triumphal entries into cities, while artists depicted triumphal processions of real and mythological figures from antiquity.<br>This wine cooler was probably made in the Patanazzi family workshop in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. The Patanazzi were related to the Fontana family and took over their workshop from them. The pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101) and his son Orazio had changed their surname to Fontana by 1541. Orazio ran his own workshop in Urbino from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana (see C107), from whom it passed to a relative, Antonio Patanazzi (d. 1587), probably from the late 1570s. From Antonio, the workshop passed to his son Francesco Patanazzi (d. 1616). The Fontana and Patanazzi workshops produced the majority of the surviving trilobate wine coolers, which were fashionable during the second half of the sixteenth century. The latest dated example was made in Francesco Patanazzi’s workshop in 1608 and is now in the British Museum (see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection’, 2 vols, London 2009, II, cat. no. 364 [acc. no. 1985,10–1,1]).
C112|1|1|Tiered, multi-part maiolica inkstands often survive incomplete and it is likely that this inkstand, which now comprises two parts, lacks its cover, which may well have been sculptural (see Wallace Collection C114). Rectangular in shape, the inkstand comprises the base and the slightly smaller tray which fits over it. The exteriors of both parts are painted with white-ground grotesque ornament.<br>The base is supported at each corner by a lion’s foot above which a black eagle wearing a yellow and brown crown stands on the base edge, with wing-like scrolls connecting it to the upper border of the tray. Each side of the base is decorated with a central oval strapwork cartouche framing a picture. The cartouches on the long sides are in relief and flanked by a pair of griffin-like grotesques. They frame fictive cameos in grisaille with representations of figures from Classical mythology: on one side Leda and the Swan with a childlike figure, on the other Venus and Cupid. The cartouches at the short ends of the base, supported by a pair of winged putti, are occupied by a tree on a blue background, the arms of the Della Rovere dukes of Urbino, described heraldically as ‘azure, an oak tree eradicated or, the four branches entwined’. The upper and lower borders of the base terminate in a rope-like pattern in brown on a yellow background. The interior of the base is divided into two rectangular compartments, one painted on its bottom with quills and a ring, the other with five implements, including a pair of scissors, a knife, a graver, and a polisher. The underside of the base is glazed pinkish-white.<br>The interior of the slightly smaller tray is divided into three rectangular compartments and two square ones with circular openings at the top, which would have contained inkwells, perhaps of metal or glass. The bottoms of the rectangular compartments are painted with the objects they were intended to hold: one with quills and a ring, one with a knife, and the other with a seal. At each exterior corner there is a winged cherub’s head in relief. At the top centre of each side there is a scroll in relief that turns over the tray edge to meet a maned lion’s mask in relief that projects from the exterior wall. The grotesque ornament on the long sides comprises a pair of winged, semi-human figures flanking the lion’s mask, and dolphins and birds. On each short side there is a pair of grotesque dolphins flanking the lion’s mask, one pair facing the centre, the other facing outwards. The upper borders of the tray and its compartments incorporate a rope-like pattern in brown on a yellow background while the lower border of the tray has a slightly different pattern in a similar palette. The colours are blue, brown, yellow, orange, green, greeny-grey, black, and opaque white. The underside of the tray is unglazed.<br>Multi-component maiolica inkstands with white-ground grotesque ornament and sculptural components were a speciality of the Patanazzi workshop in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>It was probably in the late 1570s that Antonio Patanazzi (d. 1587) took over the ownership of the workshop of his relatives, the Fontana family. From Antonio, the workshop passed to his son Francesco Patanazzi (d. 1616). Like the Fontana family before them, the Patanazzi family benefitted from Urbino court patronage.<br>Elaborate maiolica inkstands were fashionable at the Della Rovere court in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, as shown by the inventory of the ‘guardaroba grande’ of Duke Francesco Maria II Della Rovere at the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino that was drawn up in 1609 and lists eighteen maiolica inkstands.<br>This inkstand was made in the Patanazzi workshop. Although it is unmarked there are close comparisons between it and the most monumental and prestigious complete surviving maiolica inkstand, which has an integral inscription stating that it was made by the Patanazzi in Urbino in 1584 (see Timothy Wilson, Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven and London 2016, cat. no. 106). The bases of both have a similar eagle at each corner, and while C112 has a winged cherub head in relief on each corner of the tray, which appears above the eagle, the eagles on the marked inkstand in the Metropolitan Museum are surmounted by complete figures of winged putti. The two inkstands have other features in common: the under-turned scrolls in relief, the birds of their white-ground grotesques, and their border patterns.<br>Two features of the iconography of C112 indicate that it was made for a member of the Della Rovere family: the two representations of the arms of the Della Rovere dukes of Urbino, ‘azure, an oak tree eradicated or, the four branches entwined’, and the inclusion of eagles that resemble the crowned eagles from the arms of the Duchy of Urbino.<br>Inkstands were used by a diverse range of people in the higher echelons of society who shared the need to write, whether for scholarly pursuits or professional ones: among them aristocrats, churchmen, notaries and humanists. Inkstands were generally located in their owner’s private study alongside other personal and often highly prized items such as bronze statuettes and small-scale antiquities. Like them, elaborate inkstands were appreciated as collectors’ pieces. They were made in a range of materials, including bronze, ivory and wood. Although maiolica was a relatively inexpensive material, it was appreciated for its bright colours and its rich potential for incorporating a range of ‘alla antica’ elements in emulation of the culture of Classical antiquity, which fascinated Renaissance scholars, artists and patrons. Decoration often included grotesque ornament inspired by Roman wall painting and subjects from Classical mythological, both sculptural and painted. Both grotesques and figures from Classical mythology are present on C112, its small-scale depictions of Venus and Cupid and Leda and the Swan taking the form of fictive cameos, which themselves emulate cameos from the ancient world. Sculptural components of maiolica inkstands also depicted Christian subjects such as scenes from the New Testament or the figure of a saint. The contents of inkstands might include a wide range of utensils, among them quills and ink for writing; a knife for trimming the quill; a sander containing sand for drying the ink after writing; scissors for cutting paper; a seal for stamping and sealing documents with a personal mark in wax.<br>Maiolica inkstands may sometimes have been made to mark a major personal event. The iconography on an early sixteenth-century example in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston suggests that it could have been made for the signing of a marriage contract. An inkstand in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza that was made in the Patanazzi workshop has heraldic arms and imagery that probably commemorate Cesare Baronius’s elevation to the Cardinalate in 1596.<br>Venus and her son Cupid, who are depicted in one of the fictive cameos on C112, were respectively goddess and god of love in Classical mythology. They were popular subjects in Renaissance iconography. They might be depicted alone, or together, as here (see also Wallace Collection C70 and C126), or in depictions of the mythological stories in which they feature.<br>The other fictive cameo on C112 shows the seduction or rape of Leda, Queen of Sparta, by Jupiter in the guise of a swan. The king of the gods of Mount Olympus in Classical mythology, Jupiter transformed himself into many guises to evade his jealous wife Juno and pursue the subjects of his carnal desires. ‘Leda and the Swan’ was a popular subject in Renaissance art. Accounts of the result of their union vary: Leda laid one or two eggs from which either one or two sets of twins were hatched. The identity of the childlike figure behind Leda in the false cameo is uncertain but reminiscent of a naked boy behind her in a print of the subject by Enea Vico dated 1542. See also Wallace Collection C114 and C127.<br>Grotesque ornament takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a plain, often dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century. Grotesque ornament was first used in the decoration of maiolica in the early years of the century, when it was applied to a relatively dark background colour such as dark blue or orange (see Wallace Collection C63, C77). By contrast, the frescoes depicting grotesques painted by Raphael’s studio in the Vatican ‘Logge’ between 1516 and 1519 were painted on a white background.<br>Grotesque ornament on maiolica came into fashion again in the early 1560s and continued to be popular into the early seventeenth century. This later iteration of the style was fundamentally distinct from the earlier one in its use of a plain white background, hence the term ‘white-ground grotesque’ to describe it. Contemporaneously, white-ground grotesques were revived for the decoration of interiors, as exemplified by Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The revival of grotesque ornament on maiolica took some inspiration from the French architect Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau’s group of etchings, now known as the ‘Petites Grotesques’, which was first published in France in 1550.<br>Urbino was the leading centre for white-ground grotesque ornament on maiolica and it soon became the most esteemed type of decoration produced there, superseding ‘istoriato’ decoration (the covering of a complete surface with a narrative scene). The leading exponent of white-ground grotesque decoration on maiolica in its early years appears to have been Orazio Fontana, the founder of the Urbino workshop that later came under the ownership of the Fontana family’s relatives, the Patanazzi. Orazio, together with his father, the pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101), had changed his surname to Fontana by 1541. Orazio ran his own workshop from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana (see C107), from whom it passed to Antonio Patanazzi and then to his son Francesco Patanazzi, as described above. Throughout these successive ownerships the workshop was the leading producer of high-quality white-ground grotesque maiolica.
C113|1|1|This plate is painted with symmetrically arranged white-ground grotesque ornament including masks, paired satyrs, birds, fish and filled vases, amongst swags and scrollwork, surrounding two shields of arms. The arms on the left are ‘or, on a bend sinister azure three roses of the first’. Above the shield is a close helmet facing to the sinister with, as a crest, ‘a demi-maiden vested azure, arms extended, grasping in each hand by the stalk a flower of the arms’. The arms on the right are ‘per pale or and sable, a man erased counter-charged, wearing an ancient crown and holding a sceptre in his right hand’. Above the shield is a helmet for the ‘Kolbenturnier’ (tournament using maces) with, as a crest, ‘the man as in the arms’. A repeat pattern of dentils encircles the plate’s edge. The underside is glazed white and painted with yellow concentric circles, two around the foot, three at the junction of the well and rim, and two at the rim edge. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green and black.<br><br>Painted with the arms of the Christell (left) and Mair (right) families from Augsburg, the plate testifies to the strong trade links that existed between Italy and Germany and to German patronage of Italian luxury items. The plate is likely to be from a tableware service commissioned either for the marriage of Christoph Christell (d. 1598) and Ursula Mair (d. 1626) on 3 March 1593 or at a later date following their marriage. Six more plates from the service are known. Further plates that are close in style and palette to C113 have the arms of Christell and another Augsburg family, the Böcklin, among others (see Gudrun Szczepanek, ‘Italienische Majoliken mit Wappen Augsburger Familien (1515–1605)’ in ‘Keramos’, 186, October 2004, pp. 87–111, especially pp. 103–107).<br><br>By the time that the Christell/Mair service was made German clients had been commissioning Italian maiolica for the greater part of a century. Close commercial ties between the two countries were well established by the early sixteenth century, when Venice was a vital trading centre for merchants from Augsburg and Nuremberg and a source of commissions for Venetian maiolica and glass by Augsburg and Nuremberg families. German families extended their patronage to other Italian maiolica production centres through the course of the century, several services appearing to have been commissioned in the context of marriages. A service of ‘Faenza white’ ware made for Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria, in 1576 is notable for its range and scale. Ten years later, in 1586, the Duke of Urbino presented Albrecht’s successor, Wilhelm V, with a gift of maiolica which was so well received that more was requested.<br><br>The white-ground grotesque ornament common to several maiolica services made for Augsburg families in the late sixteenth century came into fashion in the early 1560s and continued to be popular into the early seventeenth century. The leading centre for its production was Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. It was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. White-ground grotesque ornament soon became the most esteemed type of decoration produced there, superseding ‘istoriato’ decoration (the covering of a complete surface with a narrative scene). The leading producer of white-ground grotesque ornament in the final years of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was the Patanazzi family workshop, which was patronised by the ducal court. A plate from the same service as C113 in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. C.227-1991), is attributed to the Patanazzi workshop around 1593–8, while a plate with the Christell and Böcklin arms in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 1775-1855) is attributed to the Patanazzi workshop and dated to around 1594–1600.<br><br>The Patanazzi had taken over the workshop from Flaminio Fontana, a relative (see Wallace Collection C107). The leading exponent of white-ground grotesque decoration on maiolica in its early years appears to have been Orazio Fontana, who ran his own workshop from 1565 until his death in 1571. Orazio, together with his father, the pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101), had changed his surname to Fontana by 1541. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana, from whom it passed to Antonio Patanazzi (d. 1587), probably from the late 1570s, and then to his son Francesco Patanazzi (d. 1616). Throughout these successive ownerships the workshop was the leading producer of high-quality white-ground grotesque maiolica.<br><br>Grotesque decoration takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a plain, often dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century. Grotesque ornament was first used in the decoration of maiolica in the early years of the century, when it was applied to a relatively dark background colour such as dark blue or orange (see Wallace Collection C63, C77). By contrast, the frescoes depicting grotesques painted by Raphael’s studio in the Vatican ‘Logge’ between 1516 and 1519 were painted on a white background.<br><br>The revival of the style from the 1560s was fundamentally distinct from its earlier manifestation due to its use of a plain white background, hence the term ‘white-ground grotesque’ to describe it. Contemporaneously, white-ground grotesques were revived for the decoration of interiors, as exemplified by Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The revival of grotesque ornament on maiolica took some inspiration from the French architect Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau’s group of etchings, now known as the ‘Petites Grotesques’, which was first published in France in 1550.
C114|1|1|It is possible that this inkstand is incomplete and was originally the upper tier of a multi-part sculptural inkstand of a type which often survives with parts missing (see Wallace Collection C112). It consists of a rectangular box on a low plinth, surmounted by a sculptural group comprising Leda and the Swan with a child who emerges from an egg beneath Leda’s left lower arm. The sculptural group was separately formed and applied, before the second firing, to the top of the box, which is painted around the edges with a cartouche of white-ground grotesques. Some of the glaze from beneath the group spread during the firing. The box has a replacement drawer in wood and painted plaster at the front and is supported at each corner by a diagonally projecting winged creature with a woman’s upper body and a curling tail. The back of the box has an oval cartouche in relief which, like the two sides of the box, contains white-ground grotesque ornament comprising a central false cameo of a male figure with symmetrically balanced swags held aloft by a central figure above and a pair of opposed winged, dragon-like creatures below. The borders of the box top and the plinth are painted with repeating ornamental patterns. The colours are blue, orange, manganese purple, grey-green, black and opaque white. The underside is unglazed.<br>It is probable that C114 was made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. It was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Multi-part maiolica inkstands with sculptural components, together with white-ground grotesque ornament, were a speciality of the Patanazzi workshop in Urbino in the late sixteenth century and much appreciated at the ducal court (see Wallace Collection C112). This inkstand was probably made in Urbino, either by the Patanazzi or at an unidentified workshop within their orbit of influence.<br>C114 seems most likely to be the upper section from a multi-part inkwell. However, if it was made as a stand-alone object its contents were probably associated with writing. It is not possible to establish precisely what form the original removable fitting for the space now occupied by the replacement drawer took. Perhaps it housed a container for a removable inkwell made from metal or glass, or maybe a sandbox containing sand for drying the ink after writing.<br>Inkstands were used by a diverse range of people in the higher echelons of society who shared the need to write, whether for scholarly or leisure pursuits or professional ones: among them aristocrats, churchmen, notaries and humanists. Inkstands were generally located in their owner’s private study alongside other personal and often highly prized items such as bronze statuettes and small-scale antiquities. Like them, elaborate inkstands were appreciated as collectors’ pieces. They were made in a range of materials, including bronze, ivory and wood. Although maiolica was a relatively inexpensive material, it was appreciated for its bright colours and its rich potential for incorporating a range of ‘alla antica’ elements in emulation of the culture of Classical antiquity, which fascinated Renaissance scholars, artists and patrons. Decoration often included grotesque ornament inspired by Roman wall painting and subjects from Classical mythological, both sculptural and painted. Both grotesques and a sculptural figure group from Classical mythology are present on C114, while the fictive cameos emulate cameos from the ancient world. Sculptural components of maiolica inkstands also depicted Christian subjects such as scenes from the New Testament or the figure of a saint. The contents of inkstands might include a wide range of utensils, among them quills and ink for writing; a knife for trimming the quill; a sandbox; scissors for cutting paper; a seal for stamping and sealing documents with a personal mark in wax.<br>Maiolica inkstands may sometimes have been made to mark a major personal event. The iconography on an early sixteenth-century example in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston suggests that it could have been made for the signing of a marriage contract. An inkstand in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza that was made in the Patanazzi workshop has heraldic arms and imagery that probably commemorate Cesare Baronius’s elevation to the Cardinalate in 1596.<br>The seduction or rape of Leda, Queen of Sparta, by Jupiter, king of the Olympian gods, in the guise of a swan was a very popular subject in Renaissance art. Jupiter transformed himself into many guises to evade his jealous wife Juno and pursue the subjects of his carnal desires. Accounts of the result of the union of Leda and the swan vary: Leda laid one or two eggs from which either one or two sets of twins were hatched: Castor and Pollux and Helen and Clytemnestra. There is a paucity of ancient literary sources for the story. During the Renaissance the epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’ by the first-century Roman poet Ovid (d. 17/18 CE) was a primary source of transformation stories drawn from Greek and Roman mythology. Yet Ovid only made a passing reference there to the story, describing a depiction of Leda ‘meekly reclining under the wings of the swan’ in a tapestry woven by Arachne (‘Metamorphoses’, Book 6, line 109).<br>The sexual act between Leda and Jupiter in the guise of a swan was often depicted quite explicitly, the fact that it was mythological giving it a cloak of respectability at a time of frequent censorship of erotic imagery by the Church and civic authorities. Michelangelo’s now lost painting of the scene, dating to around 1530, may have been destroyed because of its lasciviousness. A sculptural rendition of Leda’s encounter with the swan on an inkstand cover in its owner’s study perhaps provided a welcome distraction from weightier matters.<br>The composition of the sculptural group of Leda and the Swan on C114 may take inspiration from two prints of the subject, one by Agostino Veneziano of 1520–30 and the other by Enea Vico, dated 1542. In both prints the figures are in a similar position to that of the sculptural group and the swan’s beak touches Leda’s lips, as on C114. In Veneziano’s print, as on the inkstand, Leda holds the swan’s neck. In Vico’s print the swan has his foot on Leda’s thigh, she has one foot raised and there is a child behind her, as on C114, although the boy in the print is not emerging from an egg as the child does in the sculptural group. The child emerging from the egg and the position of Leda’s torso and arm closest to it are notably reminiscent of the emergent mask and adjacent torso and arm of the female personification of Night in Michelangelo’s marble sculpture ‘La Notte’ in the Sagrestia Nuova di San Lorenzo in Florence of 1524–34. There is a closely comparable sculptural group to that on C114 on an inkstand cover in the Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna (inv. 1113) which is attributed to the Patanazzi workshop at the end of the sixteenth century. For other depictions of ‘Leda and the Swan’ on maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C112 and C127.<br>Grotesque ornament, which has been used for the decoration on the upper surface and sides of C114, takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a plain, often dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century. Grotesque ornament was first used in the decoration of maiolica in the early years of the century, when it was applied to a relatively dark background colour such as dark blue or orange (see Wallace Collection C63, C77). By contrast, the frescoes depicting grotesques painted by Raphael’s studio in the Vatican ‘Logge’ between 1516 and 1519 were painted on a white background.<br>Grotesque ornament on maiolica came into fashion again in the early 1560s and continued to be popular into the early seventeenth century. This later iteration of the style was fundamentally distinct from the earlier one in its use of a plain white background, hence the term ‘white-ground grotesque’ to describe it. Contemporaneously, white-ground grotesques were revived for the decoration of interiors, as exemplified by Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The revival of grotesque ornament on maiolica took some inspiration from the French architect Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau’s group of etchings, now known as the ‘Petites Grotesques’, which was first published in France in 1550.<br>Urbino was the leading centre for white-ground grotesque ornament on maiolica and it soon became the most esteemed type of decoration produced there, superseding ‘istoriato’ decoration (the covering of a complete surface with a narrative scene). The leading exponent of white-ground grotesque decoration on maiolica in its early years appears to have been Orazio Fontana, the founder of the Urbino workshop that later came under the ownership of the Fontana family’s relatives, the Patanazzi. Orazio, together with his father, the pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101), had changed his surname to Fontana by 1541. Orazio ran his own workshop from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana (see C107), from whom it passed to Antonio Patanazzi and then to his son Francesco Patanazzi, as described above. Throughout these successive ownerships the workshop was the leading producer of high-quality white-ground grotesque maiolica.
C115|1|1|This large dish is painted at the centre with a medallion in which an episode from Roman history is depicted. The inscription describing the subject, in blue capital letters at the centre back of the dish, translates as, ‘Messengers from Crassus of victories gained’ (see ‘Marks/Inscriptions’). On the right, a Roman commander (probably Gaius Julius Caesar) is seated on a dais beneath a canopy. Together with a man seated on the ground at his feet who wears a helmet and tunic and holds a shield, he listens to a soldier who stands on the left delivering a message, his left arm outstretched towards the commander. Another man stands behind the messenger, looking on. The scene is encircled by a narrow border of green rosettes framed on either side by a single row of yellow beading. Beyond this, three zones, the well base, the well wall and the rim, are painted with white-ground grotesques, those on the well wall framed by single bands of yellow bead and reel ornament. The symmetrically arranged grotesques include satyrs, terminal figures, monsters, birds and swags and are punctuated at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock by false cameos in grisaille, those on the well base smaller than those on the rim. The outer edge of the rim is painted with a dentil pattern in yellow, orange and black. The colours are blue, buff, yellow, orange, manganese purple, green, grey, and opaque white.<br>The underside is glazed off-white and painted with three groups of concentric circles in yellow and orange: around the foot ring, at the junction of the wall and rim, and at the outer rim edge. The inscription is at the centre.<br>The inscription identifies the subject in the medallion as messengers from Crassus announcing victory in battle. This is probably an episode described by Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) in his book ‘The Conquest of Gaul’ (Book II.35.4). If so, Caesar himself is seated on the dais and ‘Crassus’ was Publius Crassus (86 or 82 BCE–53 BCE), son of the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. Caesar described how, during the conquest of the Belgic tribes in 57 BCE, he had sent Publius Crassus with a legion to conquer the tribes of Armorica, in ancient times an area of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that included the Brittany Peninsula. Caesar wrote of having been informed by Crassus that the tribes had been subjected to Roman rule. Presumably news of the victory would have been delivered to Caesar by messengers rather than directly by Crassus himself.<br>Although a design source for this scene is not known, it is closely comparable with similar scenes that are derived from drawings supplied by Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro around 1560/61 for a maiolica service depicting the wars and triumphs of Gaius Julius Caesar. The drawings were commissioned by Duke Guiduboldo II of Urbino and the maiolica service, which was for Philip II of Spain, was completed in 1562. That service is now known as the ‘Spanish Service’. Around fifty designs for the service are known through drawings by the Zuccaro brothers, copies after their designs, or maiolica derived from them and made during the later sixteenth century. The original design drawing for the scene depicted on C115 is likely to have been among those supplied by the Zuccaro brothers for the ‘Spanish Service’, but its depiction on C115 is probably based on a copy of the original drawing.<br>No maiolica from the ‘Spanish Service’ can be identified with certainty. Only one piece is known in Spain that may have formed part of the original service or have been a later addition to it: a wine-cooler formerly in the Spanish royal collection and now in the Prado, Madrid (inv. 0-457).<br>The scenes depicted on the ‘Spanish Service’ were surrounded by white-ground grotesque ornament. On the back of each piece there was an inscription describing the subject from the history of Caesar depicted on it. These inscriptions were described in a letter written in Urbino in 1562 as having been dictated by Muzio Giustinopolitano, secretary to the duke, although it has also been suggested that the subjects for the service may have been provided by Annibale Caro.<br>The ‘Spanish Service’ was almost certainly made in the Fontana family workshop in Urbino. This small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. The Fontana family was amongst the foremost producers of Urbino maiolica. A maiolica wine-cooler in the Wallace Collection (C107) is associated with a drawing after one of the Zuccaro brothers’ designs for the ‘Spanish Service’. The wine cooler is inscribed as having been made in the workshop of Flaminio Fontana in Urbino in 1574. The naval battle depicted in its well is described by Caesar in ‘The Conquest of Gaul’, and copies of Taddeo Zuccaro’s design drawing for the scene are known (for example, Royal Collection Trust, inv. RCIN 905471). The use of this design by the Fontana workshop indicates that it’s maiolica painters had access to versions of the Zuccaro drawings for the ‘Spanish Service’ that they continued to use for many years after that service was made.<br>The pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101) and his son Orazio had changed their surname to Fontana by 1541. Guido Durantino was first mentioned in documents in Urbino in 1516. His workshop was active for fifty years or more. He appears to have become the maiolica supplier of choice to Duke Francesco Maria Della Rovere I of Urbino and his son Guidubaldo II. Guido Durantino probably died soon after making a new will in 1576. His son Orazio Fontana ran his own workshop from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death his workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana. The workshop was later managed by a relative of the Fontana, Antonio Patanazzi (d. 1587), probably from the late 1570s. From Antonio, it passed to his son Francesco Patanazzi (d. 1616). When the Patanazzi took over the workshop from the Fontana they appear to have acquired the Fontana's moulds and source material too.<br>The distinctive border of rosettes framed by beading that encircles the central medallion on C115 is similar to a medallion surround on a vase in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza that is inscribed on the plinth as having been made in Antonio Patanazzi’s workshop in Urbino and dated 1580. This is around the time when C115 was made and although it is not marked several factors discussed here support its attribution to the Patanazzi workshop.<br>As with the pieces in the ‘Spanish Service’, the scene from Roman history on C115 is set amongst white-ground grotesque ornament. This style of decoration came into fashion in the early 1560s and continued to be popular into the early seventeenth century. Urbino was the leading centre for its production. This ornament soon became the most esteemed type of decoration produced in Urbino, superseding ‘istoriato’ decoration (the covering of a complete surface with a narrative scene). Orazio Fontana appears to have been the leading exponent of white-ground grotesque ornament on maiolica in its early years. Throughout the successive Fontana and Patanazzi ownerships their workshop remained the leading producer of high-quality white-ground grotesque maiolica.<br>An important source of motifs for white-ground grotesque ornament was a group of etchings by the French architect, designer and engraver Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau. Now known as the ‘Petites Grotesques’, they were published in France in two different editions, the first in 1550, and the second, an expanded version, in 1562. The ornament on the rim of C115 incorporates several grotesques from Ducerceau’s etchings, including some that certainly derive from the 1550 edition, as shown by their corresponding arrangement on C115.<br>Grotesque ornament takes its ultimate inspiration from Classical antiquity. The discovery of the underground remains of the Roman emperor Nero’s Golden House in Rome around 1480 was an important factor in the popularity of this style. The wall paintings in the Golden House included playful ornament comprising fantastical creatures and stylised foliage arranged symmetrically against a plain, often dark background colour. This style of ornament, which became known as grotesque, due to its having been found underground, was disseminated through prints in the early sixteenth century. Grotesque ornament was first used in the decoration of maiolica in the early years of the century, when it was applied to a relatively dark background colour such as dark blue or orange (see Wallace Collection C63, C77). By contrast, the frescoes depicting grotesques painted by Raphael’s studio in the Vatican ‘Logge’ between 1516 and 1519 were painted on a white background.<br>The revival of the style on maiolica from the 1560s was fundamentally distinct from its earlier manifestation due to its use of a plain white background, hence the term ‘white-ground grotesque’ to describe it. Contemporaneously, white-ground grotesques were revived for the decoration of interiors, as exemplified by Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.<br>With its combination of a Roman subject and grotesque ornament, C115 is an exemplary example of the emulation of Roman antiquity in the Italian Renaissance that came to be referred to as ‘alla antica’ – in the style of the ancients.<br>For the ‘Spanish Service’ see Timothy Wilson, ‘Tin-glaze and image culture. The MAK maiolica collection in its wider context’, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, and arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, 2022, cat. no. 171.<br>For Ducerceau’s ‘Petites Grotesques’ as a source for Urbino maiolica decoration see Christopher Poke, ‘Jacques Androuet I Ducerceau’s “Petites Grotesques” as a source for Urbino maiolica decoration’ in ‘The Burlington Magazine’, Vol. 143, No. 1179, June 2001, pp. 332–344.
C116|1|1|This trilobate wine cooler stands on a base formed of three lion’s paw feet alternating with vertical volutes. Between each of the three lobes of the wall there is a handle with its top formed as a grotesque mask of an open-mouthed, toothed monster with a beard, goat-like horns, and a cockleshell on the crown of its head. Each mask is flanked on the rim of the cooler by a pair of relief scrolls. The interior is painted with a scene of fishermen on the river Arno at Florence working their nets from boats and specially constructed rock-formed breakwaters. Beyond the city, the landscape fades gradually into the distance where there is a range of low blue hills. The Arno river god, accompanied by a lion, is in the lower left corner of the scene. In the sky, among clouds, five naked winged putti hover holding laurel branches. The exterior of each lobe is painted on its upper part with a pair of naturalistic birds which face each other, flanking a grotesque ornament comprising a beribboned mask face with an inverted cornucopia of fruit descending from each ear and one from the mouth. These bird pairs are above the curved swags of fruit descending from the masks’ ears. They are probably intended to represent a nuthatch and a goldfinch; a chaffinch and a goldfinch; and a nuthatch and a blue tit or yellow wagtail. The lower section of each lobe is painted with a central yellow and orange fleur-d-lis; on two lobes these are flanked by a pair of unidentified birds and on one by another likely goldfinch and a butterfly, each within a delicate laurel scroll. The centre of the hollow between the feet is glazed white and painted on a pale blue ground with a blue flower. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, black, and opaque white.<br><br>The wine coolers that were incorporated into prestigious Renaissance maiolica tableware services were often their most monumental component. They were often trilobate in shape. Wine coolers of this form were described in Renaissance documents as ‘rinfrescatoio a triangolo’. The bowl was usually painted over the entire surface with a subject related to water. These subjects were usually taken from Roman history or Classical mythology (see Wallace Collection C107, C111), and C116 is unusual in depicting a contemporary scene, albeit with the inclusion of a river god. Maiolica on which a narrative or figurative scene is painted over an entire surface as if it were an artist’s canvas is described as ‘istoriato’ maiolica. The cooler would be filled with water or ice and containers of wine placed in it. An example in gold is depicted at the Palazzo Te, Mantua, in a fresco of ‘The Banquet of the Gods’, part of the decorative scheme painted by Giulio Romano in the Chamber of Cupid and Psyche between 1526 and 1528. In the fresco, the cooler is placed on the ground close to the credenza and a flask is being kept cool in it.<br><br>This wine cooler was probably made in the Patanazzi family workshop in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. The Patanazzi were related to the Fontana family and had taken over their workshop from them. The Fontana and Patanazzi workshops produced the majority of the surviving trilobate wine coolers, which were fashionable during the second half of the sixteenth century. The pottery owner Guido Durantino (see Wallace Collection C101) and his son Orazio, had changed their surname to Fontana by 1541. Orazio ran his own workshop in Urbino from 1565 until his death in 1571. After Orazio’s death the workshop was taken over by his nephew Flaminio Fontana (see C107), from whom it passed to a relative, Antonio Patanazzi (d. 1587), probably from the late 1570s. From Antonio, the workshop passed to his son Francesco Patanazzi (d. 1616). The latest dated wine cooler made in Francesco Patanazzi’s workshop is dated 1608 and is a trilobate example now in the British Museum (see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection’, 2 vols, London 2009, II, cat. no. 364 [acc. no. 1985,10–1,1]).<br><br>The scene of fishermen on the river Arno in Florence in the bowl of C116 is copied from an engraving published by Philips Galle (1537–1612) after a drawing by Jan van der Straet, also known as Joannes Stradanus (1523–1605). The maiolica differs from the print in including rocky manmade breakwaters and putti among clouds. Stradanus was a Flemish artist who spent much of his life in Florence, where he was employed on projects for Cosimo I de’ Medici. The print source for the bowl of C116 belongs to a series of hunting scenes for which Stradanus provided the designs and which evolved in several iterations over a period of almost thirty years. The fishing scene was first published in 1578 by Galle. However, the prints for the initial series of hunting scenes were published by Hieronymus Cock in 1570 and were conceived as representations of designs produced by Stradanus for tapestries for Cosimo I de’ Medici’s villa at Poggio a Caiano in Tuscany. Twenty-eight tapestries were woven between 1566 and 1577; more had been planned but did not materialise. Cock’s widow published two further sets of prints in the hunt series, one in 1574 and the other in 1576. Doubtless due to the success of these prints, Stradanus and Galle embarked on a project that would ultimately expand the hunting series to 104 prints and went well beyond the range of hunting scenes depicted in the tapestries. Galle published the first series of 44 prints resulting from his collaboration with Stradanus in 1578. The frontispiece included the Medici coat of arms and a text by Stradanus that referred to the tapestries. The 44 prints concluded with six scenes of fishing on the Arno, each including the Arno river god. Although the fishing scenes were never executed as tapestries, they suggest what the tapestries would have looked like. The print on which the scene depicted on C116 depends therefore provides a ‘terminus ante quem’ of 1578 for C116. Some years later Stradanus and Galle embarked on a further series comprising 61 additional hunting scenes. Some of Stradanus’s drawings are dated 1596, so the series incorporating these additional prints must have been published after that. The frontispiece carries the title by which the series has become known, ‘Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium. Pugnae Bestiariorum & mutuae Bestiarum’ (Hunts of wild animals, birds and fish. Battles of beast fighters and of beasts among each other). Each scene was accompanied by four lines of Latin verse composed by Cornelis Kiliaan. The verse associated with the fishing scene depicted on C116, which was published again with this series, refers to the fish being caught in round nets when the Arno swells and its waves foam. The large series was published in several parts, the final edition combining the 44 plates from the 1578 series with the more recent prints and being numbered from one to 104. The print source for C116 was number 94. The full series was subsequently reprinted several times by the Galle family. (For further information see Marjolein Leesberg, ‘Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium 1578–1599’ in Alessandra Baroni & Manfred Sellink, ‘Stradanus 1523–1605. Court artist of the Medici’, pp. 245–258.<br><br>Might a further connection to Florence be intended by the fleur-de-lis that occurs three times on the lower part of the lobe exteriors on C116? They have a distinctive, flame-like motif on either side of the central petal that is reminiscent of the fleur-de-lis on the coat of arms of the city of Florence, although those on C116 are yellow and orange while the Florentine version is red.<br><br>This sumptuous wine cooler is unusual in several regards: in depicting a contemporary subject; in the inclusion of naturalistic, and in some cases identifiable birds rather than fantastical ones; and in the inclusion of several fleurs-de-lis.
C118|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted over its entire upper surface with the triumph of the sea nymph Galatea. Galatea sits naked in a scallop shell borne by a dolphin. She faces to the right, the direction of travel, and extends her left arm forward. A young male sea deity carrying a horn leads the procession. Galatea is accompanied by two putti (winged boys). The putto behind her, who is standing on a dolphin’s back, holds a three-pronged trident. A second young male sea deity, in the foreground and close to land, also holds a three-pronged trident and swims alongside Galatea’s scallop shell. In the sky a third putto, with outstretched arms, flies in the opposite direction, holding laurel wreaths. In the middle distance there is an island with buildings and in the background a mountainous landscape. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are pale blue, yellow, orange, green, grey, black, and opaque white. The underside is thinly glazed greenish white. It is painted with concentric yellow circles, two at the edge and one at the juncture of the rim and well. Near the centre, the word ‘galatea’ is inscribed in blue between two small flourishes.<br>C118 may have been made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>The first-century Roman writer Ovid told the story of the Sicilian sea-nymph Galatea in his epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’. With its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, the ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. Ovid recounts the story of Galatea in Book 13: 740–895. Galatea loved Acis, but was in her turn loved by the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Killed by the jealous Polyphemus, Acis was transformed into a river. Galatea was a popular subject on maiolica in the second half of the sixteenth century (see Wallace Collection C111 and C133).<br>Triumphal processions celebrating military heroes were a feature of life in ancient Roman. During the Renaissance, when the cultural elite were fascinated by Classical antiquity, the tradition was revived. Monarchs made triumphal entries into cities, while artists depicted triumphal processions of real and mythological figures from antiquity.<br>The bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.
C119|1|1|This large dish is painted at the centre with a beribboned shield of arms supported in a landscape by a winged boy who is partially concealed behind the shield. The coat of arms or devise, which has not been conclusively identified, comprises a crowned black eagle rising from a sea-surrounded rock, with a star above. The central landscape is encircled by a wreath of entwined leaves and berries which is echoed by a similar wreath on the rim of the dish. The rest of the upper surface is painted in ‘bianco sopra bianco’ with a repeating pattern of strapwork containing foliate scrolls, circles, anthemions, and chequers. The colours are blue, yellow, orange, copper-green, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some blue staining, and with several blobs of glaze marbled with white, green, and blue that appear to be the result of molten glaze dropping down from the object above during firing. The dish does not have a foot ring.<br>The coat of arms or device at the centre of the dish is similar to that on the verso of a medal attributed to Maffeo Olivieri and dated 1523 that shows on the obverse a bust of the Venetian patrician Vincenzo Malipieri (1484–after 1534): a crowned eagle on a mound amid waters.However, the eagle's pose differs and the medal lacks the star shown on the dish.<br>The dish was made in Urbino or Castel Durante. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino. It was the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Castel Durante, now called Urbania, was within the Duchy of Urbino and quite close to Urbino. It was an important pottery production centre in the sixteenth century. Some leading figures involved in the production of maiolica in Urbino came from Castel Durante.<br>‘Bianco sopra bianco’ (‘white on white’) decoration was described and illustrated by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, written in about 1557 (National Art Library, London). He referred to it as ‘Sopra Bianchi’ and remarked that it was a type of decoration associated with Urbino. He may have been referring to the Duchy of Urbino rather than the town of Urbino specifically. Fragments with ‘bianco sopra bianco’ decoration have been excavated in Urbino and Castel Durante and it may have been produced more widely in the duchy. Its earliest known use is on a service made for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and his wife, Beatrice of Aragon, made around 1486–1488 in Pesaro in the Duchy of Urbino. Pieces that combine ‘bianco sopra bianco’ with foliate garlands round the rim appear to have been made at several centres in the Duchy of Urbino between about 1530 and 1555. A large dish of similar size, decoration and attribution to C119 in the Victoria and Albert Museum is dated 1544 (inv. 650-1884).
C120|1|1|The scene depicted on this plate is from the Greek mythological story of ‘The Judgement of Paris’, in which Paris, a prince of Troy who had been raised as a shepherd, must decide who is the most beautiful among the three goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus. In the foreground, on a grassy riverbank, Paris is seated on the left, with the messenger god, Mercury, who wears a winged helmet, standing behind him. To their right, the three goddesses who have competed to be declared the most beautiful woman in the world stand naked, each carrying a cloak. Each is accompanied by her attribute, or symbol: from left to right they are Juno, queen of the gods, with her peacock; Venus, goddess of love, with her son Cupid, god of love; and Minerva, goddess of wisdom and war, with her helmet close by on the ground. Paris is awarding the prize, a golden apple, to Venus, who has promised him that, should he award the prize to her, he will be rewarded with the most beautiful woman in the world. The river behind them is probably intended to be the Scamander, the river near to Troy, the city depicted in the distance. In the background the low but fiercely shining sun is partially concealed behind a mountainous blue landscape. The rim edge is painted in red lustre. The colours are blue, orange-brown, yellow, green, black, and opaque white, with gold and ruby lustre. The underside is glazed off-white. It is painted in red lustre with a concentric circle around the rim, four foliate scrolls alternating with single leaves around the wall, and, at the centre, a foliate scroll below the date 1540.<br><br>This plate is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br><br>‘The Judgement of Paris’ was a very popular subject in Renaissance art. The group of figures on C120 is extracted from Marcantonio Raimondi’s well-known engraving of the subject, made between 1515 and 1520 after a drawing by Raphael. The print was the source for depictions of the subject on numerous examples of sixteenth-century maiolica. For further examples of ‘The Judgement of Paris’ on maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C72, C102, and C153.<br><br>In choosing Venus as the most beautiful of the three goddesses in the competition, Paris enraged Juno, which consequently led to the Trojan War.<br><br>C120 was probably made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br><br>The unidentified painter of C120 appears to have been influenced by the work of Francesco Xanto Avelli, the prolific painter of ‘istoriato’ maiolica who worked in Urbino from at least 1530 and is last recorded there in 1542. Xanto drew widely and creatively on print sources and depicted many subjects from Classical mythology (see, for example, Wallace Collection C88, C91).<br><br>C120 was lustred either in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop in Gubbio or, perhaps, at the outstation of the Andreoli workshop in Urbino. Gubbio is a small town within the Duchy of Urbino in the Umbria region of Italy. In the early sixteenth century it was renowned for the maiolica embellished with the ruby lustre that was made in Maestro Giorgio Andreoli’s workshop. In 1538 Giorgio’s son Vincenzo took the lease of a workshop in Urbino and it is likely that the workshop was adding lustre to pieces made in other Urbino workshops.
C121|1|1|This plate is painted over its upper surface with the musical contest between Apollo and Pan before Tmolus, the god of a mountain in Lydia, and Midas, King of Phrygia, which is described in the first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’. Apollo stands on a grassy river bank in the centre foreground holding a bass viol in his right hand, his left had raised as if calling for silence. He is looking at Tmolus. On the left, Tmolus and Midas sit together on a grassy knoll beneath a tree. Tmolus looks towards Apollo while Midas looks at Tmolus; they both point towards the ground in front of Apollo. On the right, Pan sits on a rock and holds his blue panpipes, with an air of humility. A young companion sits close to him, a comforting hand on Pan’s goat-like legs. There is a river in the middle ground and beyond that a rocky landscape with a town on the right, some buildings on the left, and blue mountains in the background. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, black, and opaque white. The underside has two circular mouldings around the edge of the rim and a slight step at the lower edge of the wall. It is roughly glazed a very pale buff, with some turquoise staining, and runs in waves. In places the colour of the body shows through, the effect resembling marbling.<br>This plate is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>Ovid’s poem ‘Metamorphoses’, with its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. Ovid describes the musical competition between Apollo, god of music, poetry and medicine, and Pan, the half-goat god of flocks, woods and shepherds, in ‘Metamorphoses’, Book 11, lines 147–173. Pan was at Tmolus, a mountain in Lydia (now in modern western Turkey), boasting to nymphs about his piping skills. Unwisely, he disparaged Apollo’s playing by comparison with his own, resulting in a competition between the two of them. Tmolus, god of the mountain, was the judge. Although Pan played his pipes very badly, King Midas, who worshipped Pan, was enchanted by his playing. When Pan had finished, Tmolus turned to Apollo, who proceeded to enthral Tmolus with the beautiful music he played on his lyre. Tmolus declared Apollo the winner, to general agreement, only Midas challenging the verdict, which he declared to be unfair. This resulted in Midas’s transformation: Apollo considered that such insensitive ears as Midas’s couldn’t retain their human appearance and transformed them into donkey’s ears.<br>The plate appears to depict the moment when Tmolus gives his judgement in Apollo’s favour and Midas challenges his verdict.<br>It is noteworthy that although Apollo is associated with a lyre, as in this story, the pottery painter has shown him with a bass viol.<br>The plate was made in Urbino or the Urbino district, in the Marche region of Italy. The small but prestigious town of Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. At the time when this plate was made, in the mid-sixteenth century, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.
C123|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl was probably painted by Nicolò da Fano in Girolamo di Lanfranco’s workshop in Pesaro. Pesaro is a city on the Adriatic coast in the Marche region of Italy. It came to increasing prominence under Duke Guidobaldo II Della Rovere, who came to power in 1538 and accelerated the process of making Pesaro, rather than Urbino, the focus of court life. At this period, maiolica production in Pesaro was reinvigorated when Girolamo di Lanfranco, from Gabicce (between Pesaro and Rimini), a potter in Pesaro since the 1520s, set up his own workshop in which the production of ‘istoriato’ maiolica featured prominently. He employed several potters from outside Pesaro. Among them was the painter of this bowl. He was quite a prolific painter whose hand is identifiable on a dish in in the British Museum marked as having been made in Giorlamo dalle Gabicce’s workshop in 1544. Known initially as the ‘Painter of the Planet Venus’, after a plate dated 1544 in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, his inscriptions are distinctive in depicting the number ‘4’ in a way that resembles a crossed number ‘7’, as is the case here. The acquisition by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia, in 2006, of a plate by this painter inscribed as being by Nicolò da Fano in Virgiliotto Calamelli’s workshop in Faenza, with the likely date 1556, provided the painter’s name. No archival record of him is known (see Timothy Wilson, ‘The Golden Age of Irtalian Maiolica-Painting’, Turin 2018, cat. no. 130).<br>The first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic scale poem 'Metamorphoses', with its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. One of the most frequently depicted stories was that of the virgin goddess of the hunt Diana’s transformation of Actaeon, Prince of Thebes, into a stag. While hunting, Actaeon’s party stopped to rest. Nearby, Diana and her nymphs were bathing naked in a pool, where Actaeon inadvertently stumbled upon them. Enraged by the intrusion, Diana splashed him, transforming him into a stag. Terrified, he was hunted by his own dogs ('Metamorphoses', Book 3, lines 139-252).<br>The moment depicted here, when Diana’s spell began to take effect, was frequently depicted (see also C84). Having been douced with water by Diana, Actaeon has sprouted horns as he is transformed into a stag and one of his dogs attacks him. The town in the distance is presumably Thebes.<br>The underside is thinly glazed white, with much turquoise staining. It is painted with two concentric yellow circles around the rim, one at the join of the rim and wall, and one around the base. The inscription in blue on the underside, ‘Anon 1545’, should presumably read, ‘Anno 1545’.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a narrative or figurative scene is painted all over the surface of the piece as though it were an artist’s canvas.
C124|1|1|This intriguing moulded vessel is in the form of a cockleshell valve. Two sections are later additions or replacements in plaster: the smaller, shell-shaped foot with its open side turned downwards, and the handle, which emerges from the mask painted on the shell’s umbo, or highest point, and is shaped as a pair of horns that merge at both ends. A purpose-made hole on the back wall of the vessel shows that the original handle was hollow. The vessel’s open interior is painted with Neptune, the god of the sea in Classical mythology, who holds his attribute, a three-pronged fork, and rides the dark blue waves sitting astride a dolphin. Ginger-haired, with a beard and moustache, he is naked but for a band of fabric that is tied around his waist and loops over his head, encircling his upper body. The sky and the rim of this lower section are yellow. There is an open-eyed yellow grotesque mask on the umbro, or upper section of the shell, its open mouth suggested by the open vessel interior. The rim below its nose is orange. The exterior of the vessel’s body is painted at the mask end in shades of green, with a black, branchlike element at either side, and over the rest of its body exterior it is painted with horizontal bands of blue, orange and green. The open side of the plaster foot is painted off-white; its upper side is in shades of green, moving from dark green to almost yellow from back to front. The plaster handles are orange with darker orange horizontal lines. The colours are blue, yellow, orange, green, buff, and black.<br>The playfulness of this colourful, zoomorphic vessel is characteristic of the artistic movement known as Mannerism, in which unexpected transformations and juxtapositions of shape and scale surprise and delight the viewer. Here, a sea shell becomes a tableware, its interior the yawning mouth of a mask that dwarfs the sea god, Neptune, who it threatens to consume. Marine components were a popular manifestation of the Mannerist style.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. Elaborate themed banquets might incorporate mythological figures. The illusion of feasting under the sea was created for one of the banquets held to celebrate the marriage of Alfonso I d’Este to Barbara of Austria in 1565, during the period when Wallace Collection C124 was made. Among the range of artefacts that contributed to the impression of dining under water were salts in the form of marine creatures and maiolica plates in the form of seashells. The event concluded with a triumph of Neptune, in which the sea god was attended by ninety sugar sculptures (Roy Strong, ‘Feast. A History of Grand Eating’, London 2003, p. 137).<br>There is uncertainty about the original form of this vessel: the shape of its foot; what form its handle would have taken. In a catalogue of ceramics in the Wallace Collection published in 1976 (see ‘Further Reading’) it was described as a vase or sauce-boat. However, the marine association of its form and decoration, combined with its shallow, open shape, suggest that it may be a vessel for serving salt, a product of the sea. Marine forms such as shells were often associated with the serving of salt. There are designs for salts in the shape of shells by Giulio Romano (c. 1499–1546). These would have been made into metalwork objects which would have been considerably more expensive than their maiolica equivalents.<br>This vessel was made in Urbino or the Urbino district, in the Marche region of Italy. The small but prestigious town of Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In the mid-sixteenth century, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.
C125|1|1|The subject painted over the upper surface of this shallow, low-footed bowl probably comprises episodes from the story of Prometheus in Classical mythology. In the middle ground a central tree divides the upper section of the bowl into two parts. In the sky to the left of the tree an elderly male figure with white hair, beard and moustache balances on clouds as he descends towards the ground. He is naked but for a blue cloak on his right side and holds a flaming torch or thunderbolt in each hand. To the right of the tree an elderly man with white hair, a beard and moustache, naked but for an orange cloak over his left shoulder, sits on a rock at the base of a crag. He is attending to the face of a young, naked, cleanshaven man to the right, who is sitting on a blue cloak on the adjacent rock. The older man appears to be applying a small yellow board-like object to the left side of the younger man’s upturned face. In the foreground on the left side of the bowl, a naked man with a white beard leans back awkwardly against a rocky outcrop that is partially covered by an orange cloak. In the distance on the left, beyond a stretch of water, there is a town with a mountainous landscape beyond. The rim edge is encircled by a band of orange. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, red, black, grey, and opaque white. The bowl’s underside is glazed white with some green staining. The warm colour of the body glows through. The upper edge of the rim and the edge of the foot are each encircled by an orange/yellow band.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. There is uncertainty about the subject depicted on this bowl. It probably illustrates three episodes from the myths about Prometheus, son of one of the pre-Olympian gods who were known as Titans.<br>The Greek poet Hesiod, writing around 700 BCE, recounted that Prometheus stole fire from the Olympian gods and brought it to Earth. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods (known as Jupiter to the Romans), punished him by having him bound to a rock and sending an eagle to devour his liver for eternity. In his epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’, which recounts stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, the first-century Roman writer Ovid described how Prometheus moulded and breathed life into clay to create mankind (‘Metamorphoses’, Book 1, 82-3, 363-4).<br>The bowl probably depicts, centre top, Prometheus in the act of stealing fire from the gods and bringing it to Earth. On the right he is probably creating a man from clay. He is turning the man’s face upwards, perhaps reflecting Ovid’s description of man being commanded to stand erect ‘with his face uplifted to gaze on the stars of heaven.’ (‘Metamorphoses’, Book 1, 85). On the left Prometheus is probably intended to be seen as bound to a rock, although there is no sign of a binding material. An alternative interpretation may be that only two episodes are shown, the figures at the top and bottom left depicting a single episode. According to this proposal, the figure at the top might be Zeus/Jupiter, holding thunderbolts, his attribute, as he descends to enforce Prometheus’s punishment for stealing fire, while Prometheus, transfixed at his approach, looks up in anticipation of his fate. However, as it was Mercury, who is not shown here, who bound Prometheus, this explanation is also uncertain.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over the entire surface of the piece. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations. For other examples in the Wallace Collection of maiolica showing more than one episode from a story painted over a single surface see C91, C127 and C132.<br>C125 was made in Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. The small but prestigious town of Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. In the mid-sixteenth century, when the plate was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.
C127|1|1|This shallow, low-footed bowl is painted over the upper surface with episodes from the story of Leda and the Swan in a landscape setting. In the centre foreground Jupiter in the guise of a swan copulates with the seated Leda. On the left, Leda flees. On the right Jupiter walks through the undergrowth with his back to the viewer, transforming himself into a swan. Looking down at them while hovering above, Cupid loosens an arrow. Beyond the trees in the middle ground there is a lake with a town and a mountain range behind it. The sun is low in the sky and the landscape dark, suggesting evening. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, dark green, olive, black, and opaque white. A small piece of the front of the foot had broken off before the glaze was applied.<br>The seduction or rape of Leda, Queen of Sparta, by Jupiter, king of the Olympian gods in Classical mythology, in the guise of a swan, was a very popular subject in Renaissance art. Jupiter transformed himself into many guises to evade his jealous wife Juno and pursue the subjects of his carnal desires. Accounts of the result of the union of Leda and the swan vary: Leda laid one or two eggs from which either one or two sets of twins were hatched: Castor and Pollux and Helen and Clytemnestra. There is a paucity of ancient literary sources for the story. During the Renaissance the epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’ by the first-century Roman poet Ovid (d. 17/18 CE) was a primary source of transformation stories drawn from Greek and Roman mythology. Yet Ovid only made a passing reference there to the story, describing a depiction of Leda ‘meekly reclining under the wings of the swan’ in a tapestry woven by Arachne (‘Metamorphoses’, Book 6, line 109).<br>The sexual act between Leda and Jupiter in the guise of a swan was often depicted quite explicitly, the fact that it was mythological giving it a cloak of respectability at a time of frequent censorship of erotic imagery by the Church and civic authorities. Michelangelo’s now lost painting of the subject, dating to around 1530, may have been destroyed because of its lasciviousness.<br>The depiction of the central group of Leda and the swan on this bowl may take inspiration from the engraving of the subject by Enea Vico, which is dated 1542. If this is the case, the figures have been reversed and the positions of Leda’s arms and the swan’s back wing altered on the bowl. On the bowl, Leda’s posture suggests that she is trying to escape the swan’s attentions: her right arm is crossed over her body and reaches towards the back of her seat, her left leg is on the ground and her right leg lifted, as if she is attempting to release it from under the swan. Cupid, god of Love, is presumably present as the assumed instigator of Jupiter’s passion for Leda. For other depictions of ‘Leda and the Swan’ on maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C112 and C114.<br>A bowl painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli, dating to around 1530 and probably made in Urbino, similarly shows both Jupiter in the act of transforming himself and his union with Leda (see Timothy Wilson, ‘The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting’, Turin 2018, cat. no. 99; for Xanto’s work in the Wallace Collection see, for example, C88). For other examples in the Wallace Collection of maiolica showing more than one episode from a story painted over a single surface see C91, C125 and C132.<br>This bowl, which shows the influence of Urbino production, was probably made by a potter who had worked in Urbino and then moved to Pesaro or another workshop along the Adriatic coast. Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Pesaro, a city on the Adriatic coast, came to increasing prominence under Guidobaldo II Della Rovere, the duke of Urbino who came to power in 1538 and accelerated the process of making Pesaro, rather than Urbino, the focus of court life. At this period, maiolica production in Pesaro was reinvigorated and potters from outside Pesaro were among those employed. More widely at mid-century, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>The bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.
C128|1|1|The form of this flanged, low-footed bowl indicates that it is from a maiolica childbirth set that would probably originally have comprised five or nine pieces which could be stacked to provide a new mother with nutritious meals to consume in the bedroom during her lying-in period. A battle scene is painted over the interior surface of the bowl. In the centre foreground a white-haired, bearded man mounted on a rearing tan-coloured horse brandishes a falchion as he overpowers two opponents on the right, one of them on the ground and the other wounded and falling off his brown horse. Supporting the mounted figure, behind him on the left, there are a man on a blue horse and two men on foot, one holding a shield and the other holding up a sword. Three figures wear tunics and three are bare-topped,.one with a cloak over one shoulder, the other two each with a garment around their lower body. In the distance, viewed between rocks and trees and across a stretch of water, there are two islands with fortress-like buildings and a mountain range behind them. The rim edge is painted yellow/orange. The bowl exterior is painted with both clothed and naked male and female figures, including Mercury, the messenger god of Classical mythology, in a rocky landscape. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, and opaque white. The foot has been broken off and replaced with a wooden replacement roughly painted to match the bowl.<br>The flanged top of C128 suggests that it was part of an ‘impagliata’ set, a stackable set of maiolica crockery for serving meals to mothers during their lying-in following childbirth. The sets, which might be given as gifts, were popular in Italy during the sixteenth century. A five-piece example is illustrated by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante in his manuscript treatise ‘Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio’, or ‘The three books of the potter’s art’, which was written in about 1557 (National Art Library, London). The set illustrated by Piccolpasso comprised a deep bowl (‘schudella’) at the base, covered by an inverted plate (‘tagliere’), surmounted by a small bowl (‘ongaresca’) which has been inverted onto it; the small bowl was surmounted by a salt and cover. Piccolpasso considered these stackable sets to be ‘of no small ingenuity’ and explained that nine-piece sets were also made. Some sets comprised of different numbers of items have also been recorded in inventories. No complete ‘impagliata’ set has survived. The largest group still extant from a single set comprises three items in the Detroit Institute of Arts (Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford II Fund, 59.124). C128 is probably a ‘schudella’ as Piccolpasso shows that these had a higher foot than the ‘ongaresca’ bowls.<br>The bowl was probably made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Duchy of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was an important production centre for maiolica childbirth sets. It was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy.<br>The childbirth sets produced in Urbino often included one or more scenes associated with childbirth and it seems likely that the Wallace Collection’s bowl would have been in a set incorporating one or more such scenes. The battle scene depicted in the bowl of C128, with its white-haired main figure, seems somewhat incongruous in a childbirth set. Were the newborn child a boy, and the central figure on the bowl a valiant young soldier, the intention might have been to convey the hope that he would grow up to be a military hero. For another bowl from a childbirth set see Wallace Collection C117.
C129|1|1|This plate is painted over its upper surface with Thisbe discovering the body of Pyramus, from the tragic story of the ill-fated lovers in the first-century Roman writer Ovid’s epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’. Thisbe stands on the left with her arms uplifted in a gesture of shock and horror as she discovers Pyramus, who lies dead on the ground before her, his sword projecting from his self-inflicted fatal wound. In the centre, a lioness holds Thisbe’s cloak in her mouth. Cupid, god of Love in Classical mythology, flies overhead. He holds his bow and arrow in his hands and looks towards Thisbe, his arrow aimed at her. Behind Thisbe there are a building and trees; behind Pyramus, on the right, a marble, water-filled container (perhaps part of the nearby 'cooling fountain' mentioned by Ovid), rocks and bushes. In the distance, beyond a lake, there are some buildings and a line of hills. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, pale brown, orange, yellow, manganese purple, pale green, dark green, turquoise, black, pale grey, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining, the pink of the earthenware showing through it.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the sixteenth-century cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. The first century CE Roman writer Ovid’s poem ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subjects. In the ‘Metamorphoses’ the story of Pyramus and Thisbe is told as a story within a story. It is related by Arsippe, one of the daughters of Minyas, to entertain her sisters whilst they spin and weave. As the story tells, Pyramus and Thisbe lived on neighbouring estates in ancient Babylon. They wanted to marry but their fathers forbade it. Secretly communicating through a chink in the wall separating their estates, their passion grew. In desperation they decided to elope. They arranged to meet at a mulberry tree by the tomb of Ninus. Arriving first, Thisbe encountered a lioness and fled, dropping her cloak. The lioness, fresh from a kill, smeared it with blood. Finding the bloodied cloak, Pyramus assumed Thisbe dead and stabbed himself fatally. Returning, Thisbe found him. Calling for their fathers to bury them together and for the fruit of the mulberry tree, turned red by Pyramus’ blood, forever to symbolise mourning, Thisbe fell on Pyramus’s sword. (Ovid, ‘Metamorphoses’, Book 4, lines 1–166; for the daughters of Minyas see Wallace Collection C95).<br>In 1595 the English playwright William Shakespeare retold the story of Pyramus and Thisbe both tragically, in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and comically, in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Just as the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe is told as a story within a story in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, so in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ it is an ‘interlude’ performed within the play.<br>The plate was painted by Sforza di Marcantonio de’ Giuliani of Castel Durante. Castel Durante, now Urbania, is in the Marche region of Italy, within the Duchy of Urbino and quite close to Urbino, the seat of the Della Rovere dukes. During the middle years of the sixteenth century Sforza di Marcantonio was a prolific painter of ‘istoriato’ maiolica in the style of the Urbino school. From the late 1530s his work shows the strong influence of Xanto Avelli da Rovigo (for whom see Wallace Collection C88), suggesting that he may have worked in Urbino, the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy, around that time. By 1548 Sforza was working in Pesaro, a city on the Adriatic coast, also in the Marche. Pesaro came to increasing prominence under Duke Guidobaldo II Della Rovere, who came to power in 1538 and accelerated the process of making Pesaro, rather than Urbino, the focus of court life. At this period, maiolica production in Pesaro was reinvigorated when Girolamo di Lanfranco, from Gabicce (between Pesaro and Rimini) set up his own workshop in which the production of ‘istoriato’ maiolica featured prominently. By 1552 Sforza di Marcantonio had an association with the workshop. Sforza is not documented in Pesaro between 1552 and 1563, so he may have worked elsewhere, but he was in Pesaro again by 1563. Works by him ranging in date from 1561 to 1576 are inscribed with the letter ‘S’ as his mark. He made a will in November 1580 and probably died soon afterwards. For further discussion of Sforza di Marcantonio see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, 'Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection', London 2009, cat. no. 210. For another work by Sforza di Marcantonio in the Wallace Collection see C145.<br>This plate is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface of a piece. For their poses and the relationship between the figures of Pyramus and Thisbe on this plate, Sforza di Marcantonio may have taken inspiration from a woodcut of the subject by Bernard Salomon in ‘La Metamorphose d’Ovide Figurée’, first published by Jean de Tournes in Lyon in 1557. However, while the positioning and poses of the lovers on the plate are similar to how they appear in the print, they are not close enough to be conclusive, Cupid is not present in the print, which shows a moonlit, starry sky, and the built structures on the plate do not feature in the print. The relative positioning of Pyramus and Thisbe on the plate is also reminiscent of their depiction in an engraving of the subject by Marcantonio Raimondi, dating to 1505, in which the distribution of built structures anticipates to some extent those in the landscape on the plate. It is possible that a workshop drawing combined elements from the two prints.
C131|1|1|This shallow, low-footed bowl is painted over its upper surface with a subject from the legendary history of Rome, Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna. In the centre, his back turned three-quarters to the viewer, the Roman soldier Mucius Scaevola holds his sword in his right hand, which he thrusts into the flames of an altar fire. He looks towards his right, at the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna, who is seated at the open entrance to his tent, watching in shocked amazement. On the left, in front of some tents, a Roman soldier attends to Mucius Scaevola’s horse. Between the tents a crowd of Etruscan soldiers observe the scene. In the background there are two large orange trees. Between them there is a shield of arms ‘checky argent and sable’, with a scrolled frame. In the tree to the right there is a device, ‘a demi phoenix’ (a white phoenix on its nest). The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, grey, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some green staining. It is inscribed at the centre in blue, ‘MVTIO’, and painted with two concentric yellow lines around the rim and one around the foot.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from the legendary history of Rome. Roman sources that describe the heroism of Mucius Scaevola, include Livy (59 BCE-17 CE) in ‘The Early History of Rome’, Book 2, 12–13.<br>Livy recounts the heroic episode that took place in 506 BCE during the siege of Rome by the Etruscan King of Clusium, Lars Porcenna. With the agreement of the Roman Senate, a young Roman nobleman, Gaius Mucius, armed himself with a dagger and went behind the Etruscan lines with the intention of killing Porcenna and liberating Rome. Mistaking Porsenna’s secretary for the king himself, Mucius stabbed him. Dragged before Porsenna, Mucius told him that it had been his intention to kill him, and proclaimed that many Romans were eager to have the honour of killing the king. Porsenna ordered that Mucius be burnt alive unless he gave details of the plot he’d hinted at. In response, Mucius thrust his right (sword) hand into a fire that had been lit for a sacrifice, to demonstrate how little men valued their bodies when honour was at stake. The king was so impressed by Mucius’s courage that he ordered the guards to drag him from the altar and then he let him go free. Impressed by Porsenna’s respect for courage, Mucius told him of the other young Roman noblemen who had volunteered to attempt to kill him. Following his release, Mucius was known as Scaevola, meaning Left-Handed Man, due to the loss of his right hand in the fire. Frightened by the threat to his life, Porsenna sent envoys to Rome and successfully negotiated a peace agreement.<br>This subject was depicted on maiolica from early in the sixteenth century. From the 1530s for several decades it was a popular subject on ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which, as here, a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The maiolica painter Francesco Xanto Avelli (for whom see C88) depicted the subject on two pieces in the 1530s, inscribing as his source a line from the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch’s ‘Trionfi’ (Triumphs), in which Mucio’s burning of his hand is referenced (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne).<br>This bowl was probably made in the small but prestigious town of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this bowl was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>The arms have not been identified conclusively. They may be for the Pepoli family of Bologna or the branch of the family at Trapani, although similar arms were used by the Mori-Ubaldini family of Florence. However, the number of chequers is incorrect in each case.<br>The bowl would have been part of a tableware service and a dish with the same coat of arms and device was in a sale held in Florence in 1970.
C132|1|1|This plate is painted over its upper surface with episodes from the story of Cupid and Psyche: Psyche telling her sisters that Cupid has abandoned her, and the deaths of her sisters, who fall down a mountain as they approach Cupid’s palace. In the centre foreground Psyche (on the right) meets with her sisters on a pebble-strewn path amongst lawns and plants, close to a Classical building. In the middle distance on the left Psyche’s sisters throw themselves from a mountain. In the centre background there are two pyramidal monuments and further buildings. The colours are blue, buff, brown, yellow, orange, green, manganese purple, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some blue staining. It is painted with two yellow concentric circles round the outer edge of the rim, one round the inner edge, and one round the base. Inscribed in blue paint are, at the centre, the number ‘15’ within a square, and above that an eight-line inscription describing the subject (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from Classical literature. The story of Cupid and Psyche, told by second-century CE Roman writer Lucius Apuleius as a story within his story ‘The Golden Ass’, was a popular subject for works of art in various media. Psyche was a mortal, the youngest and most beautiful of three sisters. Following instructions from an oracle, her parents left Psyche on a rock, thinking that they had abandoned her to death, but she had instead been mysteriously transported to the palace of Cupid, god of Love. Cupid and Psyche fell in love. Psyche was unaware of the identity of her lover, since Cupid had insisted that she shouldn’t see him, but only hear and feel him. Against Cupid’s advice, Psyche was reunited with her sisters, who were mysteriously transported to her new home, so that she could reveal to them that she was alive. After seeing how Psyche lived in Cupid’s palace, Psyche’s sisters were envious of her good fortune, and persuaded her to look secretly at her lover while he slept. When Cupid woke and realised that Psyche had seen him, he fled. Distraught, Psyche visited both her sisters separately, told them her lover’s identity, and tricked them into revisiting Cupid’s palace by giving them each the impression that Cupid would now love them in her place. As the sisters approached the palace from the mountain top, each independently of the other, they expected the wind to carry them down, but each fell, their body was broken by the rocks, and they were devoured by birds and wild beasts. In order to be reunited with Cupid, Psyche had to succeed in undertaking some seemingly impossible tasks set by Cupid’s mother, Venus. Psyche succeeded in completing the tasks and married Cupid. The couple celebrated their marriage at a wedding feast with the gods on Mount Olympus. (Apuleius, ‘The Golden Ass’, Book 4.28 – Book 6.24)<br>The most celebrated fresco cycle illustrating the story was commissioned from Raphael by Agostino Chigi for the Villa Farnesina in Rome and completed in 1518. Two of these frescoes were reproduced in a series of thirty-two prints depicting the story by the Master of the Die and Agostino Veneziano which was published around 1536 after designs attributed to Michiel Coxcie. This series soon became the most widely used source for illustrations of the story, including the Wallace Collection’s plate, which is faithful to the fifteenth print in the series, with the exception of minor discrepancies. The number ‘15’ inscribed on the back of the plate refers to the corresponding number of the print in the series. In the print and on the plate, four separate incidents are conflated into two. According to Apuleius, Psyche visited her sisters separately and they fall to their deaths separately, but the print and plate show Psyche speaking to her sisters together and the sisters falling to their deaths together. In the foreground, Psyche tells her two sisters that Cupid has abandoned her due to her having seen him, and misleads each of them into believing that they will replace her in Cupid’s affections. In the middle distance, the sisters are shown falling to their deaths together. The inscription at the base of the print, which is duplicated with some inaccuracies on the back of the plate, summarizes the way in which Psyche mislead her sisters, resulting in their deaths.<br>By its very nature, the representation of a story through a series of prints lends itself to the production of a set of tableware. There are a number of maiolica dishes depicting episodes from the story of Cupid and Psyche after the prints by the Master of the Die and Agostino Veneziano. Several plates after the same print as C132 are known. For three plates after the print series that may be from a single maiolica service see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Renaissance Ceramics. A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection’, 2 vols, London 2009, I, cat. no. 107.<br>C132 is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>This plate was probably made in the small but prestigious town of Urbino, in the Marche region of Italy. Urbino was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this plate was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>For further works of art in the Wallace Collection illustrating episodes from the story of Cupid and Psyche see C85, C140 and C583.<br>For other examples in the Wallace Collection of maiolica showing more than one episode from a story painted over a single surface see C91, C125 and C127.
C133|1|1|This shallow bowl with a low foot is moulded with four groups of petal-like gadroons and a convex central boss. Its rim edge is scalloped. It is painted over the upper surface with a seascape in which three dolphins each bear a love-making couple on their back. Two couples are on large cockleshells, the third couple reclines on blue drapery. The couple on the left are accompanied by a figure holding a wreath, the couple on the right by a winged putto holding ribbon-like drapery arched over his head. In the sky, Cupid, god of Love in Classical mythology, is at the centre, flying right. He wears his quiver and holds a wreath and a palm branch. In the distance, across the water, there are two mountainous islands or headlands with buildings spread across their lower ground. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, grey, manganese purple, buff, black, and opaque white. The underside is thinly glazed white with some turquoise staining. Single yellow bands encircle the bowl at the rim edge and about 2.5 cm below it, as well as the foot rim and a short distance above that. The centre of the base is inscribed in blue ‘Galatea :’.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from Classical mythology. The Roman writer Ovid (d. 17/18 CE) told the story of the Sicilian sea-nymph Galatea in his epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’. With its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, the ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. Ovid recounts the story of Galatea in Book 13: 740–895. Galatea loved Acis, but was in her turn loved by the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Killed by the jealous Polyphemus, Acis was transformed into a river. Galatea was a popular subject on maiolica in the second half of the sixteenth century (see Wallace Collection C111 and C118).<br>Setting the explicit depiction of lovemaking within the context of Classical mythology, as here, gave the subject a cloak of respectability at a time of frequent censorship of erotic imagery by the Church and civic authorities. The range of positions adopted by the lovers on this bowl is reminiscent of the banned series of engravings illustrating sexual positions that was produced in 1524 by Marcantonio Raimondi after designs by Giulio Romano, and subsequently came to be known as ‘I Modi’ after Pietro Aretino wrote sonnets to accompany them in 1527. The connection between Ovid’s telling of the story of Galatea and the lovemaking couples on the bowl is tenuous: perhaps the younger couple on the left is intended to reflect Galatea’s description of her having ‘reclined in the arms of my Acis’ (Ovid, ‘Metamorphoses’, Book 13, line 786).<br>C133 is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was probably made in the Duchy of Urbino. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this bowl was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.
C134|1|1|This shallow bowl originally had a foot, but it has been ground off. The upper surface of the bowl is painted with a subject from the Old Testament book of ‘Genesis’, Noah sacrificing to God. In the centre foreground there are three men in front of an altar on which a fire is burning. In the middle, a naked, crouching man with grey hair and a beard holds a knife in his right hand while with his left he clutches a ram that he has just slaughtered. He looks at the bowl of blood being shown to him by a young man on the left, who is wearing an orange tunic. On the right, Noah, grey-haired, bearded, and wearing a purple tunic, stands in profile looking towards the altar, his hands clasped. On the far right, a young man, naked but for an orange cloak over his shoulder, brings a goat towards the altar. In the middle ground, on the left, in front of a group of trees, two men stand close to the altar, alongside two bulls and a pair of camels. Across a stretch of water, on the right, there is a rocky headland with numerous buildings. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, brown, buff, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, turquoise, black, grey, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some purple staining. The inscription in blue at the centre translates as ‘Sacrifice’ (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>Noah’s sacrifice is described in the first book of the biblical Old Testament, ‘Genesis’ (8: 20): ‘Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.’ This was Noah’s first action on emerging from the ark with his family and all the creatures after the Flood. It was a pivotal event because, ‘The Lord smelled the pleasing odour, and the Lord said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.”’ (‘Genesis’ 8: 21).<br>The composition is adapted from an engraving attributed to Marco Dente da Ravenna (d. 1527) after the fresco of the subject in the Vatican loggias in Rome. The loggias were painted by Raphael and his assistants around 1517–19. ‘Noah’s Sacrifice’ was painted by Giulio Romano and Bartolomeo di David after a drawing by Giovanfrancesco Penni.<br>C134 is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl may have been made in the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this bowl was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino. For a plate after the same source, made in Urbino around 1560, see Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 8913-1863.<br>The foot may have been ground off C134 because it was damaged. Alternatively, it may have been removed so that the bowl could be displayed in a frame. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries it was not uncommon for collectors to display maiolica in a frame.
C135|1|1|This bowl is painted over its upper surface with an episode from Classical mythology, the metamorphosis of Daphne. The three figures depicted, Apollo, Daphne and Cupid, are all located on the bowl’s rim. Apollo and Daphne are on a grassy bank with rocks and trees, flanked by water. On the right, Daphne, naked but for a long flowing orange and white scarf draped over her left shoulder, is beginning to change into a laurel tree as she flees from Apollo, who pursues her. On the left, Apollo appears to have stopped in his tracks, taken aback by Daphne’s transformation, and gestures towards her with his left arm. He, too, is naked but for a laurel wreath on his head and a flowing orange and yellow scarf draped over his left shoulder. In the sky, top centre, Cupid sprawls on a bank of cloud, gesturing towards Apollo with his left hand while looking into the distance beyond Daphne. Across a stretch of water at the bowl’s centre there is a fortress with a mountainous landscape beyond. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, turquoise, black, grey, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some blue staining. It is painted with concentric yellow circles, one on the outer edge, one on the inner edge of the rim, and one around the foot-ring. An inscription at the centre, painted in blue, translates as ‘Phoebus pursues Daphne’ (see Marks/Inscriptions). Phoebus was an alternative name for Apollo.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from Classical mythology. The Roman writer Ovid (d. 17/18 CE) told the story of Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne and her transformation into a laurel tree in his epic-scale poem ‘Metamorphoses’. With its stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, the ‘Metamorphoses’ was a very popular source of subject-matter for Renaissance artists. From 1497, when Giovanni de’ Bonsignori’s paraphrase version, written in the 1370s, was published in Venice as the first illustrated Italian-language edition of the ‘Metamorphoses’ ('Ovidio methamorphoseos vulgare'), the stories became more accessible. This, and other illustrated versions published during the sixteenth century, also provided inspiration for the ways in which the stories were illustrated by maiolica painters.<br>The story of Daphne and Apollo was one of the most popular from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ to be depicted on maiolica. It provided artists with an opportunity to depict nudity within the context of Classical mythology, giving sexually suggestive iconography a cloak of respectability at a time when the Church and civic authorities frequently censored erotic imagery.<br>Ovid tells the story of Apollo and Daphne in the ‘Metamorphoses’, Book I: 452–567. Offended by Apollo, the god of music, poetry and medicine, Cupid, god of Love, fired an arrow that kindled Apollo’s passion for Daphne, the daughter of the river god Penéüs. Cupid also shot Daphne with an arrow that repelled passion, so that she fled from Apollo. Pursuing her, Apollo’s passion was further inflamed by the beauty of Daphne's body as it was revealed when the wind moved her clothes and hair during her flight. Exhausted by the chase, Daphne saw her father’s river, the Penéüs, and called on her father to change her form. The maiolica painter depicts the moment in Daphne’s transformation into a laurel tree when her arms are changing into branches. Apollo still loved Daphne in her transformed state, and declared that he would henceforth wear laurel in his hair as well as honouring the tree in other ways, which pleased the transformed Daphne.<br>The figure of Daphne on C135 is reminiscent of her depiction in two illustrated versions of the ‘Metamorphoses’ in which she is positioned at the far right of the composition: Her pose is closely comparable to her stance in ‘Le Metamorphosi’ by Niccolò degli Agostini, which was first published in 1522, while her nakedness is more closely comparable to her rendering in ‘Vita et Metamorfoseo d’Ovidio’, published in Lyon in 1559.<br>C135 is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was probably made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica.
C137|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted across its upper surface with an unidentified subject. On the left side of the rim a woman is tied to a tree. She is naked but for a long flowing scarf that drapes over her right shoulder and floats across the front of her upper legs. With an expression of trepidation, she looks in the direction of the male figure opposite her, on the right side of the rim, as she appears to recoil. He stands in front of another tree with his back to the viewer. He is dressed in Classical armour and wields a falchion and a crested shield. In the middle distance a group of buildings is surrounded by a watercourse, beyond which there are mountains and further buildings. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, green, grey, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining. There are three spur marks on the rim.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was probably made in Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy. It was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. Urbino was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica.<br>Although there are several possible identifications for the subject depicted here, it remains inconclusive. Possibilities include:<br>Perseus and Andromeda: Ovid (d. 17 CE), ‘Metamorphoses’, Book 4, lines 663–752: If the male figure were intended for Perseus he might more usually be wearing winged sandals and in the presence of the sea monster, which he killed when rescuing Andromeda. For a maiolica bowl with a depiction of Andromeda tied to a tree see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 65.6.9.<br>The third century (?) Sicilian saint, Agatha. Agatha resisted the advances of a Roman consul and professed her Christian faith, for which she was subjected to tortures, including her breasts being cut off. She died a virgin martyr. For an engraving after Marcantonio Raimondi of St Agatha tied to a tree see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 57.581.52.<br>Were the bound figure a man the subject might be ‘The Lover Tormented’ by unrequited love, a common theme in Italian Renaissance art. For examples on maiolica see Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, invs 32.100.379 and 65.6.10.
C138|1|1|The upper surface of this broad-rimmed bowl is painted with a subject that has not been identified with certainty. In the foreground on the left a young woman, naked but for a green headdress and a green scarf that leaves much of her body uncovered, is seated on a shallow step. Her head is tilted back and her mouth open as the man standing in front of her forcefully extracts her tongue or a tooth while she tries to restrain him with her left hand on his arm. He wears an orange tunic and black cap and has a purse suspended from his belt. Another man, standing behind the woman, stoops over her. He wears a blue tunic and an off-white cap. There are two Classical buildings behind them. On the right, two men are in front of a tree. One, a young man wearing a purple tunic, with an orange cloak draped over his shoulder, observes the scene. The other, behind him and to the right, is an older man with white hair and a beard, whose eyes are closed. There is a covered well or a fountain at the centre in the middle ground, beside a small tree. In the background, beyond an expanse of water, there is a mountainous landscape. The outer rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, tan, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, and opaque white. There are three stilt marks on the front, where the bowl rested on supports during firing. The underside is glazed white with much turquoise staining.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was probably made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this bowl was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>The subject depicted on this bowl has not been conclusively identified. If it is the woman’s tongue that is being removed, it is likely that the scene is from Classical mythology. The fate of Lara, a Naiad, or nymph of freshwater streams, lakes and fountains, is described in the first-century Roman writer Ovid’s poem ‘Fasti’ (Book II, 583–615). Jupiter falls passionately in love with Juturna, a nymph. Finding himself shunned by her, he orders all the nymphs of Latium to restrain her, which they agreed to do. Lara was often reprimanded by her father, Almo, for being too talkative. On this occasion, she reported Jupiter’s words to Juturna and urged her to flee. She then told Jupiter’s wife, Juno, who was always jealous of her husband’s infidelities, that Jupiter loved Juturna. Ovid recounts that Jupiter was furious and punished Lara severely for undermining his plan: ‘Jupiter exploded, rips out the tongue she used/ Indiscreetly’. He summoned Mercury, the god of travellers, to ‘Conduct her to the dead; that place suits the silent.’ While escorting her, Mercury raped Lara, who gave birth to twins, the Lares. If this is the subject depicted on the bowl, it differs from the literary account, with Jupiter standing behind Lara while Mercury, whose attributes, or identifying symbols, include a winged cap and a purse, extracts Lara’s tongue. The figure in front of Lara wears a black purse and has what may be a small orange wing projecting from his cap. The case for this identification of the subject was made by Tancred Borenius in 1930 (‘A maiolica plate in the Wallace Collection’ in ‘The Burlington Magazine’, LVII, no. 333, December 1930, pp. 294–5, 299.)<br>If it is the woman’s tongue that is being removed, she could, alternatively, be the Italian Saint Christina, who is said to have converted to Christianity as a teenager and to have died a martyr for her faith in the early fourth century. Her father was among those who subjected her to various tortures, intended to persuade her to renounce her faith. These included the removal of her tongue.<br>If it is the woman’s teeth that are being removed, rather than her tongue, she could be Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentists and of people suffering from toothache. The third century CE Christian virgin martyr lived in Alexandria in Egypt. During celebrations commemorating the millennium of the founding of Rome an anti-Christian riot broke out. Apollonia was beaten on the face until her teeth were broken. Refusing to denounce her faith, she burnt to death. Although she is described as being of advanced age at the time of her death by the thirteenth-century author Jacobus de Voragine in ‘The Golden Legend’ (ch. 66), in visual representations she is often depicted as a young woman holding her attribute, or symbol, a set of pincers, as in a mid-fifteenth-century representation of the saint attributed to Piero della Francesca (National Gallery of Art, Washington, acc. no. 1952.5.19). The case for this identification of the subject shown on the Wallace Collection’s bowl was made by D. S. MacColl in 1924 (‘Wallace Collection notes: a miscellany – II. II A plate of Urbino maiolica’, ‘The Burlington Magazine’, XLIV, 1924, pp. 228 and 232–3).<br>It would be unusual for a female saint to be depicted naked but for a scarf draped over her shoulder and upper legs. However, this is often the way in which women were depicted on maiolica in the iconography of subjects from Classical mythological, which supports the case for the subject depicted on this bowl being mythological.
C139|1|1|This shallow bowl’s upper surface is painted with a subject from the legendary Trojan War of Greek mythology, as recounted in the first century BCE Roman poet Virgil’s epic poem, ‘Aeneid’: the death of Priam, the last King of Troy, at the hands of the Greek, Pyrrhus. Priam died in the central courtyard of his palace in Troy. In the centre foreground Pyrrhus straddles the corpse of Priam and Hecuba’s son, Polites, who he has just killed, as he moves forward to run his sword through Priam. The elderly king is seated on a throne embellished with a dolphin ornament, in front of an altar surmounted by a statuette of a male deity. Priam’s arms are extended towards the altar behind him, but his head is turned towards Pyrrhus. Queen Hecuba and some of her daughters stand by a tree on the far side of the altar. On the left, a group of Greek soldiers enter the palace courtyard through an arched doorway. In the background, there is a palace entrance with a portico and, to its left, a balustrade surmounted by statues. The rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, buff, yellow, orange, manganese purple, green, grey, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed off-white with some turquoise staining. The rim border is encircled by a yellow band and below that by a narrower one. The inscription in blue at the centre means, ‘How Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, killed King Priam’ (see Marks/Inscriptions). The bowl originally had a foot, but it has been ground off.<br>The fascination with the culture of Classical antiquity among the cultural elite meant that Renaissance artists often drew their subject-matter from Classical literature. In Virgil’s account, in ‘Aeneid’, of a major event in Greek mythology, the Trojan War between the Greeks and the Trojans, he described the Trojan king Priam’s death in book 2, lines 506–58. Priam’s death occurred as the war was won by the Greeks.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century, when this bowl was made, maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino.<br>On this bowl, the group comprising King Priam, Pyrrhus and the altar is derived from a design by the painter Battista Franco (c. 1510–1561) that was produced as part of a series for a maiolica service depicting the history of Troy. The drawings were commissioned from Franco by the Duke of Urbino, Guidubaldo II Della Rovere, in about 1548. Franco’s designs for the service are the earliest known to have been made by a professional painter for a maiolica service.<br>Services made after Franco’s designs began to be produced soon after he supplied the drawings. These services were probably made in the Fontana family workshops favoured by the duke. The drawings, or copies of them, must have circulated, as compositions from the series continued to be drawn on as models for maiolica over a long period. A late example is a plate after Franco’s design for ‘The Death of Priam’ in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, which was made in Urbino around 1600. (See Timothy Wilson, ‘Italian Maiolica and Europe’, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, 2017, cat. no. 130).<br>Franco’s drawing for this scene has not been located. However, his design is known from a plate that was in a private collection in 1976 and depicts the subject with an elaborate border after a surviving drawing by Franco showing a different Trojan service scene. That drawing is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc. no. 2404). While Virgil described the elderly Priam as donning his youthful armour shortly before meeting his death, and as being dragged to the altar by Pyrrhus, the Wallace Collection bowl and the plate in the Ashmolean Museum show Priam wearing civilian clothes and appearing to have sought sanctuary at the altar. In doing so they follow Franco’s model as depicted on the plate that was in a private collection in 1976. (See Timothy Clifford and J. V. G. Mallet, ‘Battista Franco as a Designer for Maiolica’ in ‘The Burlington Magazine’, CXVIII, I, 1976, pp. 387–410, especially cat. nos 15 and 4 and figs 39 and 71).<br>The foot may have been ground off C139 because it was damaged. Alternatively, it may have been removed so that the bowl could be displayed in a frame. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries it was not uncommon for collectors to display maiolica in a frame.
C143|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted over its upper surface with Adam and Eve clothing themselves, having become aware of their nakedness after eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. The subject is from the biblical Old Testament, and the scene is set in the Garden of Eden. The tree of knowledge of good and bad is at the centre. Adam stands to its right, holding onto one of its branches as he looks up at the tree. He is naked but for a long scarf or cloak which is draped over his right shoulder, falls down his back, wraps around his hips and is tied at the front to form a loincloth. In his left hand he holds a small branch with fruit and foliage.To the left of the tree, Eve sits on a grass bank at the base of a tall clump of rocks, looking towards the tree. She is naked but for a small branch with fruit and foliage that she holds across her lower abdomen and upper legs, and a long scarf or cloak which is draped from one shoulder, falls down her back and is folded over her upper left leg. She holds another branch in her right hand. There are two trees to the right of Adam. Three miniature animals stand on the path close to them, a fantastical one in the centre foreground, a cow and a horse to the right. In the distance, beyond bushes and a stretch of water, there are buildings at the foot of a blue mountain. The outer rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, yellow, orange, green, grey, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with some turquoise staining. It is painted with four concentric yellow circles, two around the outer edge of the rim, one around the rim’s inner edge, and one around the foot-ring. An inscription in blue in the centre translates, ‘Adam and Eve’ (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>The biblical story of Adam and Eve is related in the first book of the Old Testament, ‘Genesis’ (2:4–4:2). Before the creation of Eve, God forbade Adam, on pain of death, to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. After Eve’s creation, Adam told her about the tree. Then the serpent told Eve that rather than dying if they ate fruit from the tree, Adam and Eve would become like divine beings, able to discern good and bad. Eve ate some of the tree’s fruit and gave some to Adam (see Wallace Collection C142). The subject depicted on C143 illustrates the immediate consequence of their eating the fruit: they became aware of their nakedness, as described in Genesis 3:7: ‘Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.’ On discovering that they had eaten the forbidden fruit, God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, lest with their knowledge of good and bad they eat from the tree of life and live forever.<br>For Christians, Adam and Eve’s eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad is the original sin, from which mankind was redeemed by the suffering of the new Adam, Jesus Christ.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino. C143 is probably by the same hand as Wallace Collection C144.<br>From the 1530s, inexpensive illustrated bibles, some of them in the vernacular, provided iconographic sources for maiolica painters. Biblical subjects began to be depicted more frequently, though they never achieved the popularity of subjects from Classical mythology and history. Following the Council of Trent, a series of meetings held by the Roman Catholic Church between 1545 and 1563 at Trento, in northern Italy, to clarify and revitalise doctrine, Catholic observance was reanimated. This led to an increase in the depiction of biblical subjects on maiolica. Perhaps surprisingly, Old Testament subjects were depicted in considerably greater number than those from the New Testament.<br>The scene on this plate is rather loosely based on a woodcut by Bernard Salomon that was first published in the ‘Quadrins historique de la Bible’ by Claude Paradin, published in Lyons by Jean de Tournes in 1553, with further editions published during the century. Salomon’s woodcuts were a popular compositional source for artists working in various media. The woodcut illustrating the scene on C143 was also published in Damiano Maraffi’s ‘Figure del Vecchio Testamento con versi toscani’, published in 1554, also by Jean de Tournes in Lyons. This was the first Italian edition of Salomon’s woodcut series to be published. It seems probable that this was the edition used as a source by the painter of Wallace Collection C144 because the inscription on its back is taken from Maraffi’s edition. Since C143 and C144 appear to be by the same hand, it seems likely that Maraffi’s publication was the source of Salomon’s print for C143. The availability of printed iconographic sources illustrating sequential subjects from a narrative suited the illustration of serial items, such as plates and other tableware. It is possible that C143 and C144 were made for the same tableware service.<br>For further depictions of Adam and Eve on maiolica in the Wallace Collection see C22, C117 and C142.
C144|1|1|This broad-rimmed bowl is painted over its upper surface with a subject from the biblical Old Testament, Hirah the Adullamite trying to deliver the kid from Judah to the ‘cult prostitute’ at Timnah. Bearing the kid across his shoulders, Hirah the Adullamite stands by a tree near the bowl's centre, speaking to two men from Timnah, on the right, who he has asked about the whereabouts of the ‘cult prostitute’. In the middle distance on the left a shepherd attends a flock of sheep in front of a tent. On the right, a man is seated on a donkey in front of two buildings. In the distance, across a stretch of water, there are some groups of buildings along the shore with a mountainous landscape behind them. The outer rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, buff, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white with much turquoise staining. It is painted with four concentric yellow circles, two on the outer edge of the rim, one on the inner edge, and one around the foot-ring. The inscription in blue in the centre means, ‘Judah sends the lamb he had promised’ (see Marks/Inscriptions).<br>The biblical story of Judah and Tamar is related in the first book of the Old Testament, ‘Genesis’, chapter 38. It takes place in Canaan, in the ancient Near East. Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, had three sons. His oldest son, Er, married Tamar, but died without having children. Following the duty to marry his childless brother’s widow (known as ‘levirate marriage’) and for their first son to be considered as the offspring of the deceased, Judah’s second son, Onan, married Tamar. But he, too, died childless. Judah’s third son, Shelah, was too young to marry Tamar, so she waited for him to grow up. But Judah was concerned that Shelah, too, might die if he married Tamar, so she waited in vain. When Judah went to Timnah to see his sheep being sheared, with his friend Hirah the Adullamite, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and Judah asked to sleep with her. Tamar asked him what he would pay her, and he said he would send a kid from his flock. Tamar told Judah that he must leave a pledge that she would retain until she received the kid, and took his seal, cord and staff. They slept together and she conceived twin sons.<br>The scene on the bowl illustrates the narrative that follows, ‘Genesis’ 38:20–21: ‘Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to redeem the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her. He inquired of the people of that town, “Where is the cult prostitute, the one at Enaim, by the road?”. But they said, “There has been no prostitute here.”’ The bowl shows Hirah carrying the kid across his shoulders and asking two men at Timnah about the whereabouts of the ‘cult prostitute’.<br>Hirah returned to Judah and told him what had occurred. A few months later Judah learnt of the way in which Tamar had tricked him and realised that right was on her side because he had not given her his son Shelah in marriage. Through her actions, Tamar had ensured that Judah’s family line was preserved.<br>This bowl is an example of ‘istoriato’ maiolica, in which a figurative scene is painted over an entire surface. The development of this type of decoration has been interpreted as reflecting pottery painters’ artistic and social aspirations.<br>The bowl was made in Urbino or the Urbino district. Urbino, a small but prestigious town in the Marche region of Italy, was the ducal capital of the dukes of Urbino and the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. It was renowned for ‘istoriato’ maiolica. In the mid-sixteenth century maiolica production was prolific in the Duchy of Urbino. C144 is probably by the same hand as Wallace Collection C143.<br>From the 1530s, inexpensive illustrated bibles, some of them in the vernacular, provided iconographic sources for maiolica painters. Biblical subjects began to be depicted more frequently, though they never achieved the popularity of subjects from Classical mythology and history. Following the Council of Trent, a series of meetings held by the Roman Catholic Church between 1545 and 1563 at Trento, in northern Italy, to clarify and revitalise doctrine, Catholic observance was reanimated. This led to an increase in the depiction of biblical subjects on maiolica. Perhaps surprisingly, Old Testament subjects were depicted in considerably greater number than those from the New Testament.<br>The model for the scene depicted on this bowl is a woodcut by Bernard Salomon that was first published in the ‘Quadrins historique de la Bible’ by Claude Paradin, published in Lyons by Jean de Tournes in 1553, with further editions published during the century. Salomon’s woodcuts were a popular compositional source for artists working in various media. The woodcut illustrating the scene on C144 was also published in Damiano Maraffi’s ‘Figure del Vecchio Testamento con versi toscani’, published in 1554, also by Jean de Tournes in Lyons. This was the first Italian edition of Salomon’s woodcut series to be published. It seems certain that this was the edition used as a source by the painter of this bowl because the inscription on its underside is taken from Maraffi’s edition. The availability of printed iconographic sources illustrating sequential subjects from a narrative suited the illustration of serial items, such as plates and other tableware. It is possible that C144 and C143, which may be by the same hand and which depict Old Testament subjects after woodcuts by Salomon for the same series, were made for the same tableware service.
C146|1|1|This busy and densely populated dish is painted in the centre with the Battle of Mühlberg, which took place in Saxony on 24 April 1547. On the right, some of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s arquebusiers fire to protect their cavalry, who are visible in the distance, crossing through the waters of the river Elbe. On the left, their opponents, the Elector of Saxony’s soldiers, are armed with field-guns, cannons and spears. The buildings of Mühlberg, including several water-mills, are visible beyond them. The debris from a pontoon bridge floats down the river. In the foreground on the left, a naked, semi-recumbent river god holds a vase. To his right, a couple of imperial soldiers have undressed to enter the river. The well wall is painted with a wreath of fruit and foliage bound at intervals by fillets. On the rim, putti, satyrs and other figures are harvesting grapes. The outer rim edge is yellow. The colours are blue, orange, yellow, manganese purple, green, black, and opaque white. The underside is glazed white and has some turquoise stains. It is painted with yellow concentric circles, one around the foot ring, one at the juncture of the well and rim, and two at the rim edge. Within a rectangle at the centre are the date when the piece was made, 1559, and an inscription which translates, ‘Of the capture of Saxony’ (see ‘Marks/Inscriptions’).<br>The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s victory at the Battle of Mühlberg, in the Electorate of Saxony, on 24 April 1547, was decisive in determining the outcome of the war between the emperor, who wished to assert Catholicism throughout his empire, and the rebellious German Protestant princes. At the battle both the Elector of Saxony, John Frederick, and his ally Philip of Hesse, were taken prisoner by the imperial forces, who inflicted severe losses on the Saxon army.<br>Depictions of recent battles were much rarer on maiolica than those depicting military subjects from Classical antiquity (see Wallace Collection C101). Among depictions of modern battles, those celebrating the victories of Charles V were popular in the Urbino area, where this dish was made, because the dukes of Urbino supported the Holy Roman Empire.<br>The scene depicted on the Wallace Collection’s dish is taken from an accomplished engraving of the battle that was produced by the north Italian engraver Enea Vico in 1551. In Vico’s print the scene is shown in an oval composition, but the painter of C146 has adjusted it to a circular format; he has also placed some additional features in the river. Vico shows the imperial cavalry crossing the Elbe on horseback to engage the Saxon soldiers in combat, following the destruction of the bridge. Female figures symbolic of victory who occupy the sky in the print have been omitted from the dish. In the print, the oval scene is set within an overall rectangular format which has allegorical figures and emblems in the corners and a celebratory inscription at the top centre. Depictions of military victories such as this were potent tools of political propaganda.<br>Enea Vico’s engraving may be based on a design by the artist Battista Franco (c. 1510–1561), from whom the Duke of Urbino, Guidobaldo II Della Rovere (1538–1574), commissioned designs for a maiolica service depicting the history of Troy in about 1548. Services made after Franco’s designs began to be produced soon after he supplied the drawings. These services were probably made in the Fontana family workshops favoured by the duke. The drawings, or copies of them, must have circulated, as compositions from the series continued to be drawn on as models for maiolica over a long period. Franco’s designs for maiolica included elaborate figurative borders which are reminiscent of that on C146. (See Timothy Clifford and J. V. G. Mallet, ‘Battista Franco as a Designer for Maiolica’ in ‘The Burlington Magazine’, CXVIII, I, 1976, pp. 387–410, especially p. 404, cat. no. 4 and fig. 39).<br>On stylistic grounds, C146 is attributed to the workshop of the brothers Ludovico and Angelo Picchi in Castel Durante. Now called Urbania, Castel Durante, in the Marche region of Italy, fell within the Duchy of Urbino. It is quite close to the small but prestigious town of Urbino, then seat of the Della Rovere dukes of Urbino. Castel Durante was an important pottery production centre in the sixteenth century. Ludovico (d. 1573) and Angelo (d. 1582 or 1583) Picchi’s workshop was one of the most productive in mid-century Castel Durante, employing several painters and producing many pieces in a sketchy and lively style. In a recent essay dedicated to the study of Wallace Collection C146 and its context (see citation below), Elisa Sani has pointed out the similarities between C146 and a group of ambitious dishes attributable to the Picchi workshop in terms of style, shape, and inscriptions on the back within an ornamental border. Some of them have elaborate decorative borders similar in style to C146: these borders were all painted freehand. Like C146, one of them, a dish depicting Alexander and Diogenes in the Museo delle Ceramiche, Pesaro, is dated 1559. Sani has proposed that C146 may be by a prolific painter within the workshop who signed with the letters ‘A.B.’ and who might also be identifiable with ‘Andrea da Negroponte’, whose name is inscribed on the back of a bowl made in Castel Durante around 1550–62. For discussion of this subject see Sani’s essay cited below.<br>Wallace Collection C146 is one of six pieces of maiolica currently known that depict the Battle of Mühlberg after Enea Vico’s print: three monumental wine coolers and three dishes. All but C146 are attributed to Urbino, the foremost maiolica-producing town in Renaissance Italy. One of the wine coolers, in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, bears the coat of arms of Guidobaldo II, Duke of Urbino, encircled by the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was bestowed on the duke by Charles V's son, Philip II of Spain, in 1559 (A. N. Kube, ‘Italian Majolica XV–XVIII Centuries’, Moscow 1976, cat. no. 84). The others are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 53.225.90), and the Musée Antoine Vivenel, Compiègne (inv. L.3015). The other two dishes are that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. 8928–1863), and that in a private collection in Toledo, Spain, in 2000 (‘Carolus’, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, 2000–2001, cat. no. 283).<br>Perhaps surprisingly, all these pieces are thought to postdate the abdication of Charles V in 1556, and probably, too, his death in 1558. However, they provide sumptuous visual evidence of Duke Guidobaldo II Della Rovere’s allegiance to the Habsburgs, and it is perhaps not coincidental that the Wallace Collection dish is dated 1559, the year in which Charles V’s son, Philip II, honoured the duke by conferring on him the Order of the Golden Fleece. As Elisa Sani has pointed out, the border decoration of putti harvesting grapes could be celebratory, alluding to celebrations following the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis on 3 April 1559, which marked the end of the long struggle between France and Spain for control of Italy and cemented Habsburg influence there.<br>Elisa Sani wrote of the Wallace Collection’s dish, ‘This dish celebrating the triumph of Charles V is the most ambitious example of “istoriato” maiolica that can be attributed to the Picchi workshop of Castel Durante.’<br>For Elisa Sani’s detailed study of C146 and its context see Elisa Paola Sani, ‘War on a Plate: The Battle of Mühlberg on a Maiolica Dish at the Wallace Collection, London’, in ‘Pots, Prints and Politics: Ceramics with an Agenda, from the 14th to the 20th Century’, Patricia Ferguson (ed.), London 2021, Chapter 5, pp. 42–50.
C166|1|1|This baluster-shaped candlestick is one of a pair with C167. It is elaborately decorated with pierced work incorporating stylised flowers on the lower section and oval cartouches containing identical heads on the shaft. The rich blue, ochre, maroon, white and green palette recalls that of the innovative later sixteenth-century French potter Bernard Palissy. For this reason the candlesticks, like many other late sixteenth-early seventeenth century French ceramics and those by his nineteenth-century imitators, have traditionally been attributed to Palissy. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. There were important production centres at Fontainebleau and at Manerbe and Pré d’Auge in Normandy. It is also possible that the candlesticks were made in the mid- to late nineteenth century as part of the Palissy revival in France, by which time the potter had become an iconic figure and his ceramics were much sought after by collectors. The candlesticks were in the celebrated Fountaine Collection at Narford Hall in Norfolk and were sold at the Fountaine sale at Christie’s in June 1884. Sir Richard Wallace acquired them shortly afterwards.
C167|1|1|This baluster-shaped candlestick is one of a pair with C166. It is elaborately decorated with pierced work incorporating stylised flowers on the lower section and oval cartouches containing identical heads on the shaft. The rich blue, ochre, maroon, white and green palette recalls that of the innovative later sixteenth-century French potter Bernard Palissy. For this reason the candlesticks, like many other late sixteenth-early seventeenth century French ceramics and those by his nineteenth-century imitators have traditionally been attributed to Palissy. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. There were important production centres at Fontainebleau and at Manerbe and Pré d’Auge in Normandy. It is also possible that the candlesticks were made in the mid- to late nineteenth century as part of the Palissy revival in France, by which time the potter had become an iconic figure and his ceramics were much sought after by collectors. The candlesticks were in the celebrated Fountaine Collection at Narford Hall in Norfolk and were sold at the Fountaine sale at Christie’s in June 1884. Sir Richard Wallace acquired them shortly afterwards.
C168|1|1|The centre of this shallow, very light and thin-walled bowl is moulded in low relief with a subject known as 'The Nymph of Fontainebleau', coloured blue, grey, green, flesh tone, white, brown and yellow. A female figure, naked except for a strap across her chest, indicative of a quiver, is seated on a blue cloak spread on the ground. Her legs extend before her and her left arm rests on an overflowing grey vase from which water flows into a stream. A white dog stands beside her while a white and brown dog emerges from the bullrushes in the background. The bowl's interior wall and exterior are dotted with irregular blobs of green and purple on a white background.<br>The composition at the centre of this bowl is one of the most well-known of those associated with artists who worked at the French royal palace of Fontainebleau for François I (d. 1547). It depicts the nymph of Fontainebleau, after an engraving by René Boyvin and Pierre Milan dating to around 1554, itself derived from a fresco design by Rosso Fiorentino for the François I gallery at Fontainebleau. Following Classical tradition, the nymph resting her arm on a vase from which water flows personifies a spring. The nymph became conflated with Diana, goddess of the hunt, when a bronze relief by Benvenuto Cellini for the palace gate, also inspired by Rosso’s fresco, was moved to Anet, the château that belonged to Henri II’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers.<br>A number of versions of this bowl survive with variant borders. The model is one of a range of subjects depicted in low relief lead-glazed earthenware that were in multiple production and have traditionally been attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. There were important production centres at Fontainebleau and at Manerbe and Pré d’Auge in Normandy. A specific production centre for the nymph of Fontainebleau model has not yet been identified and it is possible that the mould was available in more than one centre.
C169|1|1|The blue, green, purple and white palette of this bowl, together with the jasper effect of its central well and underside, has led to this and similar French earthenware being traditionally attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. In recent years plates and bowls similar to this one have been attributed to Pré d’Auge in Normandy. The bowl’s central recess may have been intended to hold salt. The wide openwork border comprises strapwork interspersed with stylised flowers and foliage partly in low relief.
C170|1|1|The bowl’s large well is predominantly purple in colour, but towards its upper section the purple is mixed with blue, resembling jasper; the underside also resembles jasper. The border comprises a moulded pattern of stylised green, white and amber floral motifs on a blue background.The predominantly purple palette of this bowl, together with the jasper effect of its well and underside, has led to this and similar French earthenware being traditionally attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. In recent years plates and bowls similar to this one have been attributed to Pré d’Auge in Normandy. Palissy's influence is evident on this bowl in the extensive use of a jasper glaze,one of his innovations.
C171|1|1|This bowl is moulded in relief with a central rosette with a yellow flower and three rows of radiating petals on a foliate background. It has a symmetrical projecting foliate rim. The bowl is coloured blue, green, white, purple and yellow. The central rosette, the petals projecting directly from it and the outer band of petals are white, while those in the central band are yellow. The inner background is blue, the central one green, and the outer background blue with touches of purple. The back of the bowl and the foot exterior are marbled in white, purple and blue. The foot interior is yellow.<br>This bowl model appears to have been mass-produced since numerous examples survive. This type of French earthenware has traditionally been attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. In recent years plates and bowls similar to this one have been attributed to Pré d’Auge in Normandy and dated to the seventeenth century. The bowl’s marbled base and yellow foot interior link it to plates and bowls with similar features described as ‘au pied jaune’ (with a yellow foot); the marbled base is reminiscent of bowl fragments excavated at the la Bosqueterie pottery production site at Pré d’Auge.
C172|1|1|The main feature of this relief moulded bowl is the symmetrical row of six mask heads with alternating grotesque and naturalistic smiles that encircle its interior wall. Each head is contained within a foliate cartouche on a white ground marbled with purple and blue dots. The cartouches culminate at the rim in three projecting flower heads in yellow and white. At the bowl centre a stylised white flower with a yellow centre is surrounded by radiating white petals on a blue and green foliate background. At the rim, the cartouche borders alternate with a green, blue and purple stylised floral motif. The underside is marbled in blue, yellow, green and purple.<br>This bowl model appears to have been mass-produced since numerous examples are known. This type of French earthenware has traditionally been attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later. Bowls similar to this one are now thought likely to have been made at Pre d’Auge in Normandy and to date to the first half of the seventeenth century, though it is possible that a popular mould form would have been circulated more widely.
C173|1|1|Bernard Palissy, a highly innovative self-taught potter, pioneered the production of lead-glazed earthenware incorporating life-cast reptiles, water creatures and plants. Palissy described his works in this style as rustiques figulines, or naturalistic pottery. He sold his first rustic basin to Henri II in 1556. His interest in the imitation of nature through art was shared by many artists of the period. Only a very small number of pieces are currently attributed to Palissy. This basin is by one of Palissy's followers. It has been transformed into a muddy stream, the water appearing to flow into the basin through an opening in the border, which represents the stream's bank. The stream supports an abundance of animal and plant life, including a snake and two lizards. Perhaps the basin accompanied a ewer for hand washing during meals or simply served as a table ornament.
C174|1|1|Bernard Palissy, a highly innovative self-taught potter, pioneered the production of lead-glazed earthenware incorporating life-cast reptiles, water creatures and plants. Palissy described his works in this style as rustique figulines, or naturalistic pottery. He sold his first rustic basin to Henri II in 1556. His interest in the imitation of nature through art was shared by many artists of the period. Only a very small number of pieces are currently attributed to Palissy. This basin is an excellent example of the work of one of his followers. It has been transformed into a pond or stream supporting an abundance of animal and plant life, including a snake, fish, crayfish, a lizard and a frog. Perhaps the basin accompanied a ewer for hand washing during meals or simply served as a table ornament.
C175|1|1|The ewer is cast in low relief with a rich array of ornament including grotesques and foliage. It is coloured blue, yellow, brown, green, purple and white. The ovoid body is divided by strapwork into three horizontal bands, the central band having three cartouches, each containing an allegorical female figure.The neck is ornamented with strapwork and has a human face below the spout. The high, slim, arched handle incorporates a female term figure. The foot has two bands of relief decoration and its underside is coloured blue over white. The ewer’s white and yellow interior is dotted with green.<br>This ceramic ewer is after a well-known design by François Briot (c. 1550–1612). A number of pewter versions are dated to the late sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, some of them attributed to the Nuremberg pewterer Caspar Enderlein (1560–1633). Briot designed an associated dish known as the ‘Temperance’ dish, which is also represented in earthenware in the Wallace Collection (C176).
C177|1|1|The circular plaque is moulded in low relief with a scene showing Perseus rescuing Andromeda, from the Roman writer Ovid’s book, 'Metamorphoses', Book 4, lines 663-752. Queen Cassiopeia had boasted that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than the sea nymphs, which had angered Neptune, god of the sea. He sent a sea monster to destroy the kingdom of Andromeda’s father, Cepheus, King of Joppa. To save his kingdom, the king had Andromeda chained naked to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea monster. Flying by, Perseus saw her plight, fell in love with her, killed the sea monster and won Andromeda’s hand in marriage. The scene on the plaque shows, in the background, the airborne Perseus in the act of attacking the monster and saving the princess. The onlookers in the foreground probably represent King Cepheus, Queen Cassiopeia, and members of their court; soldiers are also present. The plaque, which is coloured blue, brown, orange, yellow, green and flesh tone, has been broken and repaired. It is in a foliate moulded gilt wood frame which has been associated with it since at least 1862.<br>The composition is after a metal plaquette that may be French and dates to around 1572.<br>The plaque was mass-produced, since it is one of the most common surviving narrative designs amongst French earthenware of the period. Attached to a wall, its function was decorative. Examples have traditionally been attributed to Bernard Palissy or a follower. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics previously attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries and later.
C178|1|1|This vessel is a salt, the generic term for a container for serving salt. This example, which is squat and oval in shape, is moulded in relief with a winged siren-like creature in profile at each end and a single mask head on either side, a pair of laurel swags emanating from the mouth of each mask linking it to the sirens. The wide rim around the well is ribbed, the foot stepped. The glaze colours are blue, green, purple, ochre and colourless, the latter revealing the cream colour of the clay.<br>This type of French earthenware was traditionally attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. In recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries. This model is the most commonly surviving among salts attributed to the Pré d’Auge in Normandy.<br>During the medieval and Renaissance periods salt was a valuable commodity and a symbol of purity. Salt containers in precious metal had a ceremonial function and were an indication of high status, being placed close to the host or the most important guest during meals. To be seated ‘above the salt’ was a mark of distinction. Examples in less precious materials, including ceramics, were produced for a wider market.<br>In Greek mythology sirens were dangerous maritime creatures whose singing lured sailors to their deaths, their ships being wrecked on the rocks as they followed the sirens. The sirens’ depiction here may allude to the fact that salt is sourced from both the sea and the mineral halite, also known as rock salt.
C179|1|1|This small statuette of a piper seated on a rock while playing a single-drone cornemuse is coloured purple, blue, green and ochre. He wears a cap, tunic, breeches, long cloak, hose and shoes. A flask is attached to his clothing at the waist.<br>From the medieval period onwards the cornemuse was especially popular in France, where its form evolved and diversified over the centuries.<br>This type of production has traditionally been attributed to Bernard Palissy or one of his followers. However, in recent years study of material excavated from Palissy’s workshop in Paris has provided more specific information about his oeuvre, while further research and scientific analysis have shown that few works by Palissy survive. Archaeological and archival research has revealed that many ceramics attributed to Palissy’s workshop were in fact made in other workshops in France in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries.<br>Small-scale ceramic statuettes such as the piper may have been inspired by the small statuettes in bronze that are attributed to Barthélemy Prieur, court sculptor to Henri IV from 1594. The attribution of the ceramic statuettes to Fontainebleau, near the French royal palace of Fontainebleau, is based on a contemporary source of information. The journal kept by the childhood doctor to the future Louis XIII, Jean Héroard, mentions that ceramic statuettes were produced very close to the palace and that the young Dauphin often went to the pottery and owned some ceramic toys; Héroard recorded that on 27 May 1612 Louis, by now king, ‘faict porter des musiciens de poterie’. Several statuettes of cornemuse players in the Louvre are also attributed to Fontainebleau.<br>The designation Avon is also used for pottery made in the vicinity of Fontainebleau at this period. This may be due to the fact that Fontainebleau was then within the parish of Avon. The number of potteries in the area and their precise locations are not known. One workshop was run by the Protestant potter Jean II Chipault, who died in 1611 and whose father had worked with Palissy in the latter’s Tuileries workshop. Jean II Chipault’s workshop was continued by Claude Berthélémy, who had worked at Fontainebleau since at least 1602. An inventory taken in 1620 shows that Berthélémy’s production included statuettes.
C199|1|1|This beautiful dish is wonderfully evocative of the sixteenth-century Ottoman court culture in which Iznik ceramics flourished. At its centre, the glorious turquoise background, suggesting perhaps a brilliant summer sky, is a perfect foil for the fantastical stylised peacock amidst flowers and foliage. The delightful decoration in the border, comprising split palmettes interwoven with flowers and leaves, both frames and extends the peacock’s flower-bedecked domain. The distinctive red, standing out in relief, was a recent addition to the Iznik palette, which became more vivid from around mid-century. A key element in the popularity of Iznik ceramics was the strong, clean white ground. The inclusion of a bird at the centre of an Iznik dish is very unusual at this early date.
C204|1|1|The cuvette-type vases may have been used to display natural cut flowers, or deceivingly naturalistic porcelain flowers which were also produced at the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory.<br>This popular model 'à tombeau' was probably introduced around 1753 and remained in production until the 1780s.<br>Decorated with a rose ground colour the Boucher-inspired cherubs on clouds are painted by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787). They were a highly popular motif at Sèvres in the 1750s. The trophies on the other sides evoke the sphere of theatre: The one on the back features a book inscribed 'TARTUFE acte I', referencing Molières famous play from 1664, and one on the side shows a page inscribed 'ACREO', in allusion to Jean-Philippe Rameau’s 'Anacreon'. The opera had first been performed on 23 October 1754 to celebrate the birth of the duc de Berri, who would later become king Louis XVI.
C205-7|1|1|This garniture combines two sizes of the same model, the popular ‘cuvette à tombeau’, which was introduced around 1753 and remained in production until the 1780s. Vases of this type may have been used to display either natural cut flowers, or lavish porcelain flowers, which were also produced at the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory.<br>The vases are decorated with a vibrant turquoise-blue 'bleu céleste' ground, which was introduced in 1753 for the manufactory's first major dinner service made for Louis XV, and would be the most costly ground colour to be produced in the eighteenth century.<br>The front reserves are painted with a rustic scene by Antoine Caton (op. 1749-1798), derived from several engravings by Jacques-Philippe Le Bas after David Teniers the Younger. Such cheerful peasant scenes, often after or inspired by Teniers, were introduced around 1758. A marked contrast to both the elaborate luxury of the Sèvres pieces and the noble society for whom they were produced, the mundane subjects were highly popular until the mid-1760s.
C208|1|1|This pair of vases would have been filled with either natural cut flowers or lavish porcelain flowers which were also made at the Sèvres manufactory. The model is named after the marquis de Courteille, the King’s representative in charge of the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory, to whom the first example of this model was presented in December 1753.<br>The vases are decorated with a green ground, and painted on the back and sides with flowers and fruit, while the front reserves feature figural scenes painted by Antoine Caton (op. 1749-1798). The motifs are taken from the engraving 'La quatrième fête flamande' by Jacques-Philippe Le Bas, produced after a work of David Teniers the Younger.<br>Such cheerful peasant scenes, often after or in the style of Teniers, were introduced around 1758 and remained highly popular until the mid-1760s.
C210|1|1|The 'cuvette'-type vases were often produced in pairs and would have been filled with fresh natural flowers or lavish naturalistic porcelain flowers which were also produced at the Sèvres manufactory. This particular model is named after the marquis de Courteille, the King’s representative in charge of the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory, to whom the first example was also presented in December 1753.<br>The vases are decorated with a intricate gilded diaper pattern framing stylized flowers on the sides, while the rest of the body is covered with a bright blue 'bleu Fallot' ground. Invented in 1764 by Jean Armand Fallot, this colour was mostly combined with a so-called 'incrusté' flower decoration (here in the centre on both sides), which is painted directly onto areas where the ground colour has been scraped away, thus creating an inlaid effect.
C212|1|1|The 'cuvette'-type vases were often produced in pairs and would have been filled with either natural flowers or lavish porcelain flowers which were also made at the Sèvres manufactory. This particular model is named after the marquis de Courteille, the King’s representative in charge of the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory, to whom the first example of this model was presented in December 1753.<br>The vases are decorated with a rich 'beau bleu' overglaze ground colour, which was introduced in1763 (then still called 'bleu nouveau') to replace the previous underglaze blue that was less stable in the kiln. The front reserves show atmospheric harbour scenes by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787), one of Sèvres' most skilled figure painters who specialised in this subject. The backs of the vases feature sprays of flowers, which, unusually, were not painted in enamel colours but gilding.<br>The pair was possibly bought by Louis XV in 1772.
C214|1|1|The cuvette-type vases would have been used to display either natural cut flowers, or lavish porcelain flowers which were also made at Sèvres. This particular model was previously known as a 'cuvette Verdun', but has been identified in 2014 as the previously unknown 'cuvette Roussel'.<br>The oval-shaped vase with acanthus-scroll handles is decorated with a turquoise-blue 'bleu céleste' ground, which was introduced in 1753 for Louis XV’s first major dinner service from the manufactory and was also the most costly colour to be produced in the eighteenth century.<br>The painted decoration includes flowers and fruit on the back, sprays of flowers on the handles, and a pair of cherubs on clouds on the front. One cherub is depicted holding a pen before an open manuscript, a lyre and a dagger lying next to him, while his companion offers the poet a laurel crown. The scene is derived from François Boucher’s painting 'La Poésie'. Drawings by of engravings after Boucher were important references for Sèvres painters.
C215|1|1|Although wonderfully extravagant and artful, the construction of these vases also makes them highly functional. Plants were grown in the upper section, whose openings at the bottom would allow water to permeate, while the lower section served as a reservoir, from which water could be poured through the trellis-work piercings.<br>The vases are decorated with a turquoise-blue 'bleu céleste' ground colour, which was introduced in 1753 for Louis XV’s first major dinner service from the manufactory and was also the most costly colour to be produced in the eighteenth century. The birds in landscapes were painted by Louis-Denis Armand L’Aîné (op. 1745-1788).<br>The most striking part of the decoration, however, are probably the two elaborately sculpted and gilded dolphins on the sides. Dolphins were popular rococo motifs in general, but since medieval times they were also associated with the heir to the throne of France ('dauphin' means dolphin in French). The vase model was introduced in 1754, and might thus commemorate the birth of the dauphin’s second son (the future Louis XVI) in August of the same year.<br>These two examples were probably part of a set with two matching 'vases à oreilles' and one 'cuvette à masques', which was assembled by the famour dealer Lazare Duvaux in order to be given by Louis XV to Count Moltke of Copenhagen as part of a costly gift of Sèvres pieces in 1757. As Moltke was a close friend of Fredrick V of Denmark, the gift may have been a bid to persuade Denmark to remain neutral rather than join Russia in the Seven Years' War. It wouldn't have been the only time that Louis XV used precious Sèvres porcelain gifts to bolster his diplomatic strategy.
C217|1|1|A means of bringing the garden indoors, this model would hold flowers in earth in the upper section, ehich also had holes at the bottom in order to allow water to permeate. The lower part served as a reservoir, from which water could be poured through the openings (the Sèvres manufactory also produced watering cans for that purpose). Dutch tin-glazed earthenware flowerpots were used in a smiliar manner, hence perhaps the term 'vase hollandois’. The popular model was introduced in 1754 and remained in production until the 1790s.<br>This vase is decorated with a rose ground and white trellis-work, while the painted decoration features children in a landscape. The scene, probably inspired by Boucher, may have been painted by André-Vincent Vieillard (op. 1752-1790). The vase left the factory as the largest in a set of three, but was immediately separated by the dealer Madame Duvaux and sold to Louise-Jeanne de Durfort, duchesse de Mazarin. The other two vases are now at Harewood House in Yorkshire.
C218|1|1|A means of bringing the garden indoors, this model was intended to grow plants.<br>While the upper section would hold the flowers and had holes at the bottom which allowed water to permeate, the lower served as a reservoir, from which water could be poured through the openings at the sides (the Sèvres manufactory also produced watering cans for that purpose). Dutch tin-glazed earthenware flowerpots were used in a similar manner, hence perhaps the term vase hollandois. The popular model was introduced in 1754 and remained in production until the 1790s.<br>This pair is decorated with a bleu lapis ground, overlaid on the sides with an elaborate gilded trellis-work pattern. The reserves show birds in landscapes and were painted by Louis-Denis Armand L’Aîné (op. 1745-1788), who specialized in this subject-matter and can be identified by his characteristic crescent mark.
C220|1|1|This garniture was intended to grow plants indoors. The upper section would hold flowers in earth and had holes at the bottom which allowed water to permeate, and the lower part served as a reservoir, from which the water could be poured through openings at the sides (the Sèvres manufactory also produced watering cans for that purpose). Dutch tin-glazed earthenware flowerpots were used in a similar way, hence perhaps the term 'vase hollandois’. The popular model was introduced in 1754 and remained in production until the 1790s.<br>The garniture is decorated with a green ground, while the painted decoration shows pastoral scenes derived from different engravings after François Boucher, which survive in the Sèvres archives to this day. Boucher's compositions were a popular reference for the Sèvres painters and can be found on a great number of objects.
C223|1|1|The Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory was remarkable not only for the elaborate design of its vases, but also for their functionality. A means of bringing the garden indoors, these vases were intended to grow plants. While the upper section would hold the flowers in earth and had holes at the bottom which allowed water to permeate, the lower served as a reservoir, from which the water could be poured through the openings at the sides (the Sèvres manufactory also produced watering cans for that purpose). Dutch tin-glazed earthenware flowerpots were used in a similar manner, hence perhaps the term vase hollandois. The popular model was introduced in 1754 and remained in production until the 1790s.<br>Both vases are decorated with a dark blue 'bleu lapis' ground colour and overlaid with worm tunnel-like vermiculé gilding which was often used to conceal cloudiness occurring on the blue ground. The front reserves each show harbour scenes and were probably painted by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787), one of Sèvres most skilled figure painters. The painting on the sides takes up the naval theme, featuring marine trophies.<br>Originally these vases formed a garniture with a larger central vase now at Waddesdon Manor.
C225|1|1|This lavish vase is the first of three ship-shaped models chief designer Jean-Claude Duplessis (op. 1748-1774) created for the Sèvres manufactory in the 1750s (see C248 and C256 for the other models). The naval theme is playfully echoed in a wave-like neck and stand, and in the elaborately sculpted masks which gave this model its name. Recalling the fanciful design of figureheads, the marine monsters have long moustaches and reeds woven through their hair.<br>Despite their visual appeal, only comparatively few 'cuvettes à masques' were made and the example in the Wallace Collection is particularly unusual with its two interlaced L’s - the cypher of the French kings - painted on the front. Rarely found on porcelain, they suggest a royal patron and recall the decoration on a gold jewelled 'nef' (a ship-shaped table ornament), once owned by Louis XIV. The vase may originally have formed a garniture with two similarly decorated vases 'urne antique', now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
C226|1|1|Previously thought to be a 'vase à compartiments' or 'Choisy', this oval-shaped vase with its characteristic fixed partitions has been identified as a 'cuvette Verdun' in 2014, a title formerly attributed to a different model (see C214).<br>It is named after Jean-François Verdun de Monchiroux, one of the first major shareholders in the Vincennes manufactory.<br>Decorated with pink and green ground golours, the front features a peasant scene outside an inn, which was painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3) – one of the factory’s most skilled and versatile painters. Such cheerful scenes of peasant life – often after or in the style of David Teniers the Younger – were introduced at the factory around 1758. A marked contrast to the elaborate luxury of the Sèvres pieces and the noble society for whom they were produced, the mundane subjects were highly popular until the mid-1760s.<br>The vase was possibly bought by Louis XV in 1760, together with several other pieces decorated with Teniers scenes.
C227|1|1|This garniture consists of three vases, a cuvette Roussel (previously known as cuvette Verdun, re-identified in 2014) and two 'cuvettes Verdun' (previously 'vase à compartiments' or 'Choisy').<br>The dark-blue bleu lapis ground is overlaid with elaborate gilding to disguise the cloudiness often occurring with this ground colour. The cheerful peasant scenes, painted by André-Vincent Vieilliard (op. 1752-1790), are based on engravings after David Teniers the Younger. A marked contrast to the elaborate luxury of the Sèvres pieces and the noble society for whom they were made, such mundane scenes of peasant life were introduced in 1758 and remained highly popular until the mid-1760s.<br>The garniture was probably sold by the dealer Simon-Philippe Poirier to Louis XV's mistress, Madame du Barry, on 12 July 1769 and was subsequently displayed in her bedroom at Louveciennes.
C230|1|1|The Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory was remarkable not only for the design of its vases, but also for their functionality. This set of vases would have been used to grow bulb plants indoors. The main section holds a smaller container inserted through an opening at the top, whose longish, narrow shape would provide ideal stability to grow larger flowers such as hyacinths in water.<br>When bulbs were out of season, the vases could be used to display either cut flowers or porcelain flowers. Bulb pots, flower vases and flower pots were all ways of bringing the garden indoors and were at their most popular at Sèvres in the 1750s.<br>The 'piédestaux à oignon' were mostly sold in sets of two. Decorated with green-ground scrolls forming a trellis pattern and painted with delicate flower garlands, the foot shows a simplified Greek-key pattern, which makes it one of the earliest neo-classical motifs to appear on Sèvres pieces.
C234|1|1|This garniture consists of five pieces, and although all of them were used to display flowers, the two pedestals may not have been intended for that purpose. The model, now with inserted bulb holders, was originally designed to hold small biscuit busts of Maria Leszczyńska and Louis XV (see a pair in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) and was introduced in 1759, the year the King became sole proprietor of the Sèvres manufactory.<br>All pieces are decorated with rose and green ground colours, the latter forming cartouches of scrolls and branches. The reserves inside the cartouches are painted with flowers and fruit by Pierre-Joseph Rosset (op. 1753-1799). Again, the pedestals are unusual: several details in painting and gilding of both pieces differ from one another, and it is very probable that they have been wrongly matched in the Sèvres manufactory with a pair of 'piédestaux en gaine' now in the Kress Collection.<br>It seems that only C234-6 were originally designed as a garniture, and that the pedestals were later added in 1768.
C241-2|1|1|This popular model was introduced in 1754 by chief-designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père (op. 1748-1774) and remained in production until the 1790s. The design was probably inspired by Chinese vases in the stock of the Parisian dealer Lazare Duvaux, which were listed as 'à oreilles' ('oreille' means 'ear' in French).<br>Both vases are decorated with a turquoise blue 'bleu céleste' ground colour, which was introduced in 1753 for Louis XV’s first major dinner service from the manufactory and was also the most costly colour to be produced in the eighteenth century. The pairs of cherubs painted on both sides represent the elements: Fire and Water are holding a magnifying glass, a torch and a horn flowing with water, while Earth and Air are depicted with fruit and a pair of doves. These scenes were probably executed by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3), one of Sèvres most skilled figure painters who specialized in this subject during the 1750s. Both compositions are in the manner of Boucher, the attributes of fire recalling his drawing 'L’Astronomie'. Since both sides of the vases are of equal importance, they were apparently intended to be seen in the round and might have been displayed in the middle of a room, against a mirror, or they might have been turned around according to which motive you wished to see.<br>It is possible that these are the two examples of the model the dealer Lazare Duvaux bough in 1756 for Louis XV, in orderto be sent to the Duchess of Parma. Alternatively, were acquired by Louis XVI or Madame Lair in 1774.
C243|1|1|This popular model by Chief-designer Jean-Claude Duplessis was introduced in 1754 and remained in production until the 1790s. The design was probably inspired by Chinese vases in the stock of the dealer Lazare Duvaux, which were listed as 'à oreilles' ('oreille' means 'ear' in French).<br>The vase is decorated with a turquoise blue 'bleu céleste' ground and painted in with fable-like scenes: on one side a fox is alarming two birds in a tree, while on the other the fox is being caught in a trap. The reserves are edged with exquisitely gilded cartouches of richly varied flowers, garlands and trellis-work. Since both sides of the vase are of equal importance, it was apparently intended to be seen in the round and might thus have been displayed in the middle of a room, against a mirror, or it might have been turned around according to which motive you wished to see.<br>Despite the technical improvements at Sèvres during the 1750s, not every object would come out in a perfect state: the vase has sagged to one side, but was nevertheless considered valuable enough to go on sale.
C244|1|1|First introduced in 1755, when criticism against the 'rocaille' style was growing, this bottle-shaped vase has a classical reference, without however losig it rococo flourishes. Chief designer Jean-Claude Duplessis may have known the 'plusieurs Traits de vases antiques' (several traits of antique vases), probably supplied to the manufactory by the painter and architect Jean-Louis Le Lorrain (1715-1758) in 1754. However, the vase's scalloped and pierced handles and scroll-footed base soften any resemblance to an ancient urn.<br>The model usually came with a shallow cover, which is missing on both pieces and the gilding inside the necks may indicate that they were never intended. Front and back reserves are painted with birds in landscapes, and since both sides of the vases are of equal importance, they were apparently intended to be seen in the round and might have been displayed in the middle of a room, against a mirror, or they might have been turned around, according to which motive you wished to see.
C246-7|1|1|These vases are certainly among the finest examples of the unique craftsmanship and stylistic extravagance the Sèvres manufactory had reached by the mid-1750s. The model was introduced in 1756 and remained in production until the early 1760s. Due to the technical challenges and cost involved in the production, relatively few were made.<br>Sèvres' chief-designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père (op. 1748-1774) took up the bottle-shaped form and scrolled plinth of an ea rlier model (see C244-45), and turned the sleek urn into a flamboyant rococo design.<br>Two elephants' heads support separately fitted candle holders on the sides, emerging as flowerbuds from entwined stems. Double rows of beading, suspended from behind the elephants’ ears, loop below the trunks.<br>Duplessis might have drawn the inspiration for this model from a Chinese Ming vase or a Japanese birdcage vase, copied at Meissen, with similar decoration.<br>The ingenious design of the vases is rivalled by their splendid painted and gilded decoration. They show a slightly turquoise green ground and are painted in six small reserves with flowers, while larger reserves in the centre feature pairs of cherubs. Executed by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3), some of the figures are clearly inspired by prints after François Boucher. Most striking, however, is the naturalistic colouring of the elephants’ heads, with long eyelashes, fleshy-pink tones on the eyelids and insides of the mouths, as well as gilded hair inside the ears and wrinkles on the trunks.
C248|1|1|This exquisite garniture consists of two elaborate vases with elephants’ heads supporting candleholders (for a detailed discussion of the model see C246-7) and a boat-shaped pot-pourri vase. It is the second of three ship-shaped models chief-designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père (op. 1745/1748-1774), created during the 1750s (see C225 and C256 for the other models).<br>The piercings on the neck were required for the perfume to permeate and are a complex decorative pattern of entwining scrolls, while the cover is decorated with naturalistically sculpted and painted flowers, crowned by a small bouquet forming the knop. Decorated with a green ground, the pairs of cherubs on both sides, were possibly executed by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3 and inspired by works of Boucher).<br>The inventories of Madame de Pompadour’s apartments at Versailles and the Hôtel de Pompadour list three vases whose description closely matches the garniture in the Wallace Collection. Louis XV’s mistress might have bought this set in 1759 and then displayed the vases in different houses.
C251|1|1|This three-piece garniture consists of two pear-shaped vases à oreilles (for a detailed description of this model, see C241-242 and C243) and a vase Boileau. The chalice-shaped model was first introduced in 1758 and is named after Jacques-René Boileau de Picardie, director of Vincennes/Sèvres from 1751.<br>All pieces are decorated with 'saffre et verd' ground, a combination of blue and green ground colours, which was highly difficult to produce as each colour had to be fired separately. The reserves on the backs are painted with flowers, while the fronts feature figural scenes of military encampments, possibly by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787). At that time, France was fighting in the Seven Years' War (1756-63), so as often with Sèvres decoration, these were probably inspired by current political events.<br>The lavish garniture was possibly bought by Louis XV in 1759 during the big annual sale held at Court in late December.
C254|1|1|This pear-shaped vase model was named either after the dealer Thomas-Joachim Hébert or one of the king's officers of the same name who was involved in the factory's financial affairs. The vase was intended for pot-pourri, a mixture of dried flowers, herbs and spices which would have perfumes the appartments of its noble owner. The domed cover features decorative piercings which would have allowed the perfume to permeate.<br>Decorated with a green ground, the reserves show the popular motif of birds in landscapes, while the rich gilding includes sprays of foliage, peacock feathers and wheat ears.
C255|1|1|This pear-shaped vase model was named either after the dealer Thomas-Joachim Hébert or one of the king's officers of the same name who was involved in the manufactory's financial affairs. The vase was intended for pot-pourri, a mixture of dried flowers, herbs and spices which would have scented the rooms of its noble owner. The cover thus has decorative piercings that allowed the perfume to permeate.<br>Decorated with rose and green ground colours, the vase is painted with flowers by Pierre-Joseph Rosset (op. 1753-99), while the front features a military encampment attributed to Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787), which may have neen inspired by the battles of the Seven Years' war France was involved in at the time. Together with a similarly decorated 'vase à tête d’éléphant' (now at Waddesdon Manor), the vase was originally probably part of a set of five which Louis XV bought in December 1760.
C257|1|1|Pot-pourri vases were usually filled with mixtures of dried flowers, herbs and spices, sprinkled with perfumed water to mask unpleasant odours and scent the rooms. This wonderfully sumptuous model derives its name from the sculptural myrtle branches twining upwards from its stem and painted on the foot. The myrtle theme probably refers to specific pot-pourri mixtures which included the dried leaves.<br>The pear-shaped vases have large entwined scrolls forming handles and continuing in a serpentine line over the neck. Openings at the neck and cover would have allowed the scent to permeate.<br>Decorated with a green ground, both vases are painted with pairs of birds in landscapes, similar to those on another vase in the collection, C254. Created by Sèvres chief designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père (op. 1745/8-1774), the source for this extravagant model may have been the design for an ecclesiastical hanging lamp by Pierre Germain II, published in 1748. Prior to his activity at the Sèvres manufactory, Duplessis had worked with metal and was therefore certainly familiar with the work of the silversmith Germain.<br>Although its undulating forms clearly make it a rococo model, the painted Greek-key pattern on its foot marks the beginning fashion for neo-classical elements in Sèvres designs.
C260|1|1|A classical-inspired model, this vase urn-shaped may have been known as a 'vase grec à festons' or a 'vase grec et à guirlandes' in the eighteenth century - both names are listed in Sèvres' records from 1763.<br>This example is decorated with an overglaze blue 'bleu nouveau' ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the underglaze blue) and generous gilding, including a 'vermiculé' ('worm-tunnel') pattern on the cover and 'sablé' (sand) pattern on the flutes.<br>The knop on the cover is a later replacement.
C261-2|1|1|The name of this vase model refers to the complex arrangement of sculpted ropes, clamps, rings and nails, which seemingly suspend four large panels around the vase. The model was introduced by Sèvres in 1763 and was still in production in the early 1780s.<br>Decorated with a 'bleu nouveau' ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the former underglaze blue) and painted on the fronts with scenes of military encampents by Jean-Louis Morin (op.1754-87), the decoration of these vases depicts an idyllic view of military life; actual battle scenes were rare at Sèvres. The flower wreaths on the other panels are possibly by another artist.<br>The vases may have been delivered to Versailles in 1767, costing 480 livres each. Later in the century, they possibly found their way into the collection of the duc de Liancourt, from which they were confiscated following the Revolution in 1793.<br>The gilt-bronze stands are later additions from the nineteenth century, probably French.
C263|1|1|This model is one of the earliest neo-classical shapes at Sèvres. It may have been one of the designs by Etienne-Maurice Falconet shown to Louis XV in December 1762.<br>The naval flavour of ropes and rings is also reflected in the painted decoration on the front panel, which features a harbour scene by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-87), one of Sèvres most skilled figure painters. The fruit and flower arrangements on the other sides were executed by another artist.<br>The lavish vase was possibly delivered to Versailles in 1769/70.
C264-6|1|1|Vases were often displayed as garnitures, which made a lavish mantlepiece decoration. This is a garniture of three ‘vases ferré’, a name which refers to the way in which the applied decorated panels, suspended by sculpted ropes, are ‘clamped’ on to the vase body.<br>The turquoise blue 'bleu céleste' ground is unusually thin and partially translucent, while the painted decoration is of the highest quality and can be attributed to Antoine Caton (op. 1749-98) and Louis-Gabriel Chulot (op. 1755-1800). The front reserves of the smaller vases feature gallant pastoral scenes, while the centrepiece shows a schoolmaster about to beat one of his pupils and a girl being punished by having to wear an ass’s ear on her head. In keeping with the subject, the trophies on the sides of this vase show schoolbooks, a doll, a kite and various other toys.<br><br>The figure scenes all relate to works by François Boucher. C265 is based on his ‘Autumn Pastoral', now in the Wallace Collection (P482) and C266 on ‘The enjoyable Lesson’ (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne). Boucher may have supplied drawings of these compositions to the manufactory since they are reproduced in the same sense as the original painting. The schoolmaster scene (original drawing now in the Albertina, Vienna) is in reverse; the source for this was the biscuit porcelain figure group modelled by Falconet after Boucher and introduced in 1762.<br><br>In the 19th century, the 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired them in the sale of the maréchal Sébastiani, who had been French Ambassador to London when Hertford House was let as the French embassy.
C267|1|1|The sleek shape of this ornamental vase is inspired by classical models. It is decorated with an overglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to the replace the earlier underglaze blue) and a peasant scene, possibly painted by Antoine Caton (op. 1749-98) on the front. The motif derives from the title page of the ‘Diversa Animalia Quadrupedia’, a set of four engravings after Dutch painter Nicholas Berchem, which was published in 1741 by Johannes Visscher. A similarly decorated piece of the same model was formerly in the Alphonse de Rothschild Collection and may have been its pair.<br>The vase was possibly owned by Prince Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko (1742-99), an important Russian statesman and collector, and remained with the Koucheleff-Bezborodko family until 1860.
C269|1|1|With the neo-classical fashion, mythological subjects became increasingly popular on Sèvres porcelain. Here, the erotic scene painted on the front is derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It shows Jupiter seducing the nymph Callisto by approaching her under the guise of her patroness Diana.<br>The depiction is based on a 1735 engraving by Étienne Fessard after Jean-François de Troy which is still preserved at Sèvres today.<br>The vase is decorated with a 'beau bleu' ground and has flowers painted on the back.
C270|1|1|Introduced in 1763, this classically-inspired model features elements from ancient architecture: flutes and triglyphs on stem and shoulder and a meander-like decoration on the lower part. It was probably designed by the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet (op. 1757-66), who besides vase designs mainly supplied models for biscuit figures to the manufactory (see C492 and C493-4)<br>Decorated with an overglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground colour (introduced in 1763 to replace the former underglaze blue), the front reserve shows three children watching a peepshow, a Savoyard scene possibly painted by Charles-Eloi Asselin (op. 1765-98, 1800-04). Peasants from the Savoy Alps frequently visited French fairs with their simple entertainments at the time and were popular motifs in eighteenth-century art. This scene is based on Falconet’s biscuit group ‘The magic Lantern’, which had been introduced in 1757 after designs of François Boucher.<br>The trophy on the back, probably painted by Louis-Gabriel Chulot (op. 1755-1800), takes up the Savoyard theme with various musical instruments and toys, a magic lantern, and a dancing marmot in a box.<br>The inscription inside the vase’s cover may refer to the important Parisian dealer Philippe Poirier, who possibly bought it with Dominique Daguerre in 1776.
C271|1|1|This model was introduced in 1763, when the neo-classical taste was becoming an increasingly important influence at Sèvres. Inspired by elements of antique architecture, the vase was probably designed by the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet (op. 1757-66), who besides vases mainly supplied models for biscuit figures to the manufactory (see museum numbers C492 and C493-4)<br><br>The vase is decorated with a 'bleu céleste' ground and painted with an erotic scene based on François Lemoyne’s painting 'La baigneuse' from 1724, whose bathing figure had also inspired a biscuit statuette by Falconet.<br>Here, the image is in reverse to the original, as the Sèvres painter would have worked from an engraving by Laurent Cars which the manufactory in 1764.<br><br>The gilt-bronze collar and stand was added in the nineteenth century and they are probably French.
C276|1|1|These vases illustrate the neoclassical influence that became fashionable in the 1760s. The model’s bulbous shape and characteristic small handles were probably inspired by a design by sculptor Jacques-Francois Joseph Saly (1717-1776) who engraved several classically-inspired vases in 1746. A set of these prints was owned by Sèvres’ designer Jean-Claude Duplessis who probably designed this model.<br>Its name perhaps commemorates a visit to Paris of Joachim Godske, son of the highly influential Danish statesman and diplomat Adam Gottlob von Moltke, in 1764.<br>Matched by pastoral trophies on the backs, the bucolic scenes with children and animals in the front reserves were presumably painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin, one of Sèvres' most skilled figure painters. They may have adapted several compositions by François Boucher, who frequently provided engravings or drawings to the manufactory. However, the scenes are unusual as they don’t appear on any other pieces.
C278|1|1|A simplified version of the vase Danemark à cartouche de relief (see C276/277), this oval-shaped model illustrates the neoclassical taste that became increasingly fashionable in the 1760s. The pot-pourri vase would have been filled with perfumed mixtures of dried flowers, herbs and spices, and hence has piercings around the neck, which allowed the scent to permeate.<br>The overglaze bleu nouveau ground colour (introduced in 1763 to replace the earlier underglaze blue) is overlaid with a highly elaborate lace-pattern gilding.<br>Although no less luxurious than the earlier rococo models, the seemingly simplistic decoration reflects a new stylistic austerity.
C279|1|1|Illustrating the new neoclassical forms that became fashionable in the 1760s, this vase has spiralling flutes on the neck and sashes draped below the shoulder. The design may have been inspired by two Chinese vases which were described in the inventory of the duc d’Aumont’s collections in a similar way, bottle-shaped with fluted neck and sash decoration.<br>Instead of featuring painted decoration, the juxtaposing of the dark blue bleu nouveau colour with the white ground and elaborate gilded pattern draws attention to the vase’s refined shape.<br>Although gilt-bronze elements were often added in the nineteenth century, several examples of this model are known with mounts in the eighteenth century. The collar, decorated with lions’ masks suspending chains, and the scroll-footed stand, are thus probably contemporary to the porcelain.
C280|1|1|Illustrating the new neoclassical forms that became fashionable in the 1760s, these vases have spiralling flutes on the neck and sashes draped below the shoulder. Their design may have been inspired by two Chinese vases which were mentioned in the inventory of the duc d’Aumont’s collections, and also described as bottle-shaped, with fluted neck and sash decoration.<br>The limited colour palette of the dark ‘bleu nouveau’ blue and white, overlaid with elaborated gilded decoration, draws attention to the model’s refined shape.<br>Although gilt-bronze elements were often added in the nineteenth century, several examples of this model are known to have been sold with mounts in the eighteenth century. The collars, decorated with lions’ masks suspending chains, and the lion’s-paw footed stands, are thus probably contemporary to the porcelain.<br>The cover on C281 is a later replacement.
C282|1|1|Illustrating the new neoclassical forms which became fashionable in the 1760s, the model combines a simple urn-shape with typical motifs: a fluted body, lions’ masks, laurel garlands, and acanthus tips.<br>Prints were an important source of inspiration for these new designs and may also have provided a reference for the lion’s-head decoration on the sides. A gilt-bronze clock with lion’s heads and pelts was engraved by the architect Jean-Louis Le Lorrain (1715-1758) around 1756/7 and an illustration from the ‘2e suite d’Habillement à la Grécque’ (c. 1763), also features lion’s paw pelts.<br>The design of the vase’s cover is identical to one made in gilt bronze for a sixteenth-century Urbino maiolica vase. Sèvres’ chief-designer Jean-Claude Duplessis also worked as a gilt-bronze founder throughout his career, and thus might have designed both, the cover of the maiolica vase and the porcelain model.<br>Decorated with an underglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the previous underglaze blue), the gilded decoration is of the highest quality and includes finely tooled trophies of roman arms and armour as well as naturalistic details on the lions’ faces and paws.
C284|1|1|Taking its title from the fountain-inspired shape and decoration, this lavish model features elaborately sculpted and gilded dolphins on both sides – a motif that has been associated with the heir to the throne of France since medieval times ('dauphin' means dolphin in French). The model was introduced in 1765, the year the future Louis XVI became dauphin on the death of his father.<br>Combining a neoclassical shape with the ornate abundance of earlier designs, this may be one of the later creations by chief designer Jean-Claude Duplessis père, who had created some of the most exuberant rococo vases in the 1750s.<br>Decorated with an overglaze blue bleu nouveau ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the previous underglaze blue), gilding is applied generously on the water cascade, while the dolphins are worked up with naturalistic details.<br>Sèvres presented this pair to the marquis de Courteille, Louis XV’s minister in charge of the factory, in December 1766.
C286|1|1|Although in the shape of a useful object, these ewers would have served purely decorative purposes. Their simple form is highlighted by a looped handle, terminating in a stylized fish tail. Decorated with an overglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the previous underglaze blue), the undulating reserves show flower wreaths, formed by interweaved cornflower and rose garlands. They were probably painted by Jean-Baptiste Tandart (op. 1754-1800), who executed this unusual flower decoration on a similar pair in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.<br>The vases might have been owned by Louis XV, who bought a pair of vases ‘en burette’ in 1766 for 300 livres each.
C288|1|1|Illustrating the new neoclassical forms which became fashionable in the 1760s, these vases feature typical decorative motifs from that period – pine knops, Vitruvian and acanthus scroll bands and scrolled acanthus leaves forming handles on the sides. The model was designed by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (op. 1748/51-93), who oversaw the painted decoration at Sèvres and occasionally supplied vase models from the mid-1760s.<br>Decorated with an overglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the previous underglaze blue), the exquisite gilding includes elaborate bands of scrolled foliage. The gilding was applied by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96), a long-serving worker and the factory’s finest gilder, despite having lost the use of his left hand during a sword fight.<br>Assembled as a garniture with three other vases now at the Wallace Collection (C333 and C321-2) the vases were presented by the comte d’Artois to François Charles de Velbrück, prince bishop of Liège in 1781. In the nineteenth century they found their way into the collection of Felix Montfort (also recorded as the Count of Schomburg) and Lord Wellesley (Brussels).
C294|1|1|These slender vases, featuring a relief of sage leaves on the neck and entwined branches forming handles on the sides, were possibly designed by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (op. 1748/51-93), who had started working as an artistic director overseeing the painted decoration at the manufactory, and occasionally supplied vase models from the mid 1760’s.<br>The front reserves are painted with two erotic mythological scenes, ‘Jupiter and Antiope’ and ‘Venus in the Sea’. The former is derived from Étienne Fessard’s engraving after a composition by Carle van Loo, the latter from a print by Jean-Charles Levasseur after François Boucher.<br>The vases may have been bought by Lord Harcourt, British Ambassador to France, in 1770, together with two matching ‘vases à têtes de Boucs’. Alternatively they belonged to Mad-ame du Barry, who acquired a pair of similar description in 1773 together with a third vase, possibly the ‘vase à têtes de sphinx’ also in the Wallace Collection (see C327). This garniture may have been in the collection of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn at Bentley Priory until the 1850s and the gilt-bronze stands, collars and covers were probably added during this time.
C296|1|1|The vase is named after its sculpted myrtle branch decoration, which emerges from the stem and spreads over the body.<br>The intricate pale blue pointillé ground was probably applied by Madame Geneviève Taillandier (op. 1774-98), who specialised in this technique, while her husband Vincent (op. 1736-90) painted the flowers and fruit.
C299|1|1|Illustrating the new neoclassical forms which became fashionable in the 1760s, this vase is decorated with typical elements derived from classical architecture: flutes, meander-like handles, laurel garlands, and the prominent pearl decoration to which this model owes its name.<br>Decorated with an overglaze blue ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the underglaze ‘bleu lapis’), the vase has flowers painted on the back and a harbour scene on the front. Although no marks were applied, the flowers can stylistically be attributed to Edme-Francois Bouilliat (op. 1758-1810) and the figural scene by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1732-1787) or Jean-Baptiste Genest (op. 1752-1789).Garnitures with complementary decoration, often combining vases of different models, formed impressive displays on eighteenth-century chimneypieces and chests-of-drawers.The high quality of the detailed gilded decoration suggests that is was executed by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96). A long-serving worker, he was the factory’s finest gilder, despite having lost the use of his left hand in a sword fight.<br>With a matching pair of ‘vases Bouc de Costes’, this piece was possibly sold to Louis XVI in 1775.<br>The gilt-bronze stand is a nineteenth-century addition and probably English.
C300-2|1|1|Garnitures with complementary decoration, often combining vases of different models, formed impressive displays on eighteenth-century chimneypieces and chests-of-drawers.<br>These pieces feature rich gilding over a ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the underglaze ‘bleu lapis’), as well as painted harbour scenes on the fronts and marine trophies on the backs. The trophies include a fishing net and anchor which were taken from the 'Connaissance des Temps', the annual astronomical almanac published by the Académie des Sciences, and a map of French Guyana and Brazil. They were possibly painted by Charles Buteux père (op. 1763-1801), whose anchor mark also suggests that he had a personal connection to shipping or the marine.<br>The designs and decoration at Sèvres often referred to contemporary events. Here, the nautical theme may reflect France’s naval engagements in the summer of 1779, when St. Vincent and Grenada were taken from the British.<br><br>In the eighteenth century, the vases were probably in the collection of the duc de Villequier, before they came into that of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. The 4th Marquess of Hertford acquired them in 1752-3. The gilt-bronze stands also date from the nineteenth century and were possibly made in England.
C303|1|1|llustrating the neoclassical influences that became fashionable in the 1760s, this model combines a squat, oval shape with laurel-swags, a pinecone knop and scrolled volute handles. Decorated with an overglaze ‘bleu nouveau’ ground (introduced in 1763 to replace the underglaze ‘bleu lapis’), it is painted with a playful pastoral scene after François Boucher, reproduced in a print by Gilles Demarteau which has survived at Sèvres to this day. The bucolic theme is taken up in the trophy on the back, featuring bagpipes, shepherds’ crooks and a hat, entwined with flower garlands.
C304|1|1|The neo-classical shape of this 'beau bleu' ground vase is complemented by the monochrome figures of ancient gods on its shoulder, which evoke classical relief decoration.<br>The harbour scene painted in the front reserve below makes for an unusual combination. Generally, harbour scenes are rare at Sèvres after 1787 (the year the painter Jean-Louis Morin, who was chiefly in charge of these subjects, died), and it is thus likely that this one was painted in the 1780s, while the rest of the decoration was completed in 1790. A skillful painter added the atmospheric landscape in the front reserve, and the imaginative gilding includes snakes, butterflies, snails and birds.<br>The gilt-bronze stand and knop are probably later additions from the nineteenth century.
C305|1|1|This lavish vase derives its name from the large portrait medallion of King Louis XV, prominently placed in the centre and framed by a laurel wreath. Executed in biscuit (unglazed) porcelain, it shows the King as a young man - he was in his late 50’s when the vase was made - and follows a design by sculptor Edme Bouchardon which was first cast in bronze in 1738.<br>The model was introduced in 1767 and is probably the first to include such a portrait of the king who had become Sèvres sole owner in 1759. The cover, surmounted by the emblem of French royalty, fleur de lys, is in the form of a French royal crown and closely resembles the decoration on a Sèvres inkstand also in the Wallace Collection (see C488), designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, who may also have been responsible for this model.<br>The clock dial on the back, although signed by 18th-century clockmaker Jean Lepautre, is presumably a later addition and might have replaced a second portrait medallion.<br>Only two other examples of this model are known, and while one in the Royal Collection may have belonged to the King’s mistress Madame du Barry, this vase is likely to have been presented (possibly with two green-ground vases now at the Walters Art Museum) to King Christian VII of Denmark by Louis XV himself in 1768. During his sojourn in France that year, Christian had visited the Sèvres manufactory and also received a dinner service. Porcelain objects were often given as diplomatic gifts, serving not only as a sign of special recognition, but also demonstrating the virtuosity of the King’s royal porcelain manufactory.
C306|1|1|An example of the more advanced neo-classical models at Sèvres, this vase borrows its column-like neck, Vitruvian scroll and Greek-key pattern friezes, and the zig-zag handles from antique architecture. Despite its brilliant design, the model was only briefly in production, possibly because its classical forms were not fully understood in the late 1760s. The only other known example has a similar blue ground and gilded decoration.<br>The gilt-bronze stand was probably made in France in the nineteenth century.
C308|1|1|The urn shape of this vase, and its decoration of pilasters, consoles and painted cameo-like medallions illustrate the growing antique influence at Sèvres from the mid-1760s. The spiral dynamic and decorative opulence, however, are still reminiscent of earlier rococo designs.<br>Only one other example of this model is known today and it features a similar blue-white and gilded decoration.
C309|1|1|The title of this model is ambiguous: it may either have been named after its half-globe like stand or it could be a modification of a similar shape with sculpted Chinese heads.<br><br>The gilding was probably applied over the 'beau bleu' ground by Pierre-Nicolas Pierre (op. 1759–76) and the painted flowers on the back are attributed to Nicolas-Laurent Petit (op. 1756-1800). Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754 to 1787), who was famed for his marine subjects, painted the harbour scene on the front. The Sèvres painters often repeated popular motifs and two other vases at the Wallace Collection (see C212-13) show the same decoration.<br><br>The vase may have been bought by the maréchal de Soubise at the big annual sale at Versailles on 27 December 1773 for the high sum of 960 livres.
C310|1|1|Named after its sculpted tassels ('glands' in French), the vase illustrates the growing popularity of painted mythological scenes at Sèvres during the neo-classical period. The source for this one is the Aeneid, which tells of Venus giving arms to Aeneas (they are also represented in the trophy on the back of the vase) and directing him to Dido’s palace. The motif is based on an engraving after Charles-Joseph Natoire.<br>Together with two matching vases ‘Paris de milieu’, now at Waddesdon Manor, the garniture was possibly bought for the comte and comtesse du Nord in 1782. In the nineteenth century, this vase (and perhaps the Waddesdon vases) was in important Russian collections until the 1860s, when it was acquired by the London dealer Frederick Davis while on a visit to Russia.
C311|1|1|This garniture consists of two ‘vases à pied de globe’ or ‘chinois’ (for a detailed description of this model see C309) and a ‘vase console’, which derives its name from the scrolled consoles, linked by laurel swags, on the lower half.<br>All three pieces are decorated with a mid-blue ‘bleu Fallot’ ground, overlaid with a gilded pattern of circles and dots. This ground colour was probably named after its inventor, the Sèvres painter Jean-Armand Fallot (op. 1764-90) and is usually combined with ‘incrusté’ flower decoration, here in the form of garlands, which is directly painted into areas where the ground colour has been scraped away, creating an inlaid effect. The medallions were painted in grisaille by Jean-Baptiste Étienne Genest (op. 1752-89), head of the painters’ workshop, and feature figural scenes, cameo heads and trophies in the classical taste. The scene on C311 is from Antonio Tempesta’s engraving ‘Battle between the Greeks and the Amazons’ of 1600.<br>The vases were probably delivered to Versailles in December 1769, as part of a set of fifteen (the other vases are now at Waddesdon Manor, Luton Hoo and the Musée Condé). The set may have been dispersed at Louis XV’s annual New Year sale in 1770, where some of the vases were probably bought by the duc de Choiseuil.<br>The gilt-bronze stands and covers are later additions from the nineteenth century.
C314-5|1|1|Named after its small round handles (boulon means 'bolt' in French), these vases are the only known examples of this model.<br>They are decorated with a 'bleu céleste' ground and painted with cherubs presenting military attributes, probably by Charles-Eloi Asselin. A military theme is also reflected in the martial trophies on the backs.<br>The vases probably celebrate the French monarchy since the gilded sunflowers on the handles and the sun motifs in the trophies were common royal symbols.<br><br>They formed a set with a similarly decorated 'vase à flame’, also at the Wallace Collection (see C320).
C316-7|1|1|Named after its octagonal shape, this model has unusual folded handles which are seemingly pinned to the body by sculpted clamps. Only one other pair is known today.<br>These examples, both missing their covers, are decorated with a blue 'beau bleu' ground and painted with colourful flower arrangements suspended on ribbon bows.<br>The gilt-bronze stands are probably English and date to the nineteenth century.
C318|1|1|This vase model features a complex arrangement of strap-like studded bands, rings, and laurel swags on the sides, which gave the model its name.<br><br>It is decorated with a ‘beau bleu’ ground and a pastoral scene, probably painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802) who was one of Sèvres’ most skilled figure painters. The gallant anglers are derived from Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet’s engraving after Boucher’s ‘La pêche’, while the flower vase adorning the back may be based on an overdoor painting surviving in the Sèvres archives. The overdoor in turn seems to derive from Daniel Marot’s ‘Nouveaux Livre de Taleaux (sic) de portes et de chiminée utiles aux peintres en Floeurs (sic)’.<br>The rich gilding of foliage and leaf garlands was applied by Étienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96). He became one of Sèvres’ most skilled gilders despite having lost his left hand in a battle during his military career.<br>With a similarly decorated piece now in the Royal Collection, the vase was possibly delivered to the château of Versailles on 25 December 1776.
C319|1|1|This fluted, melon-shaped vase is very rare and only one other example, now at Woburn Abbey, is known today. This one is decorated with a beau bleu ground and has gilded pendants of oak leaves.
C320|1|1|The name of this vase, which fittingly has a modelled flame on the cover and a painted flame over the cherub’s head, is probably a reference to the Divine Right of Kings.<br>Additional symbols of the French monarchy (the 'fleur-de-lys' motif on the cherub’s shield) and Justice (a scale) suggest that it commemorates Louis XV taking control of France’s judicial system after exiling the parliaments in 1771. This would also be supported by the inscription of this date on two 'vases à boulons’ (see C314-15 on the same shelf), which are decorated with the same 'bleu céleste' ground and formed a set with this piece in the nineteenth century and may have been associated with it earlier.
C321-2|1|1|The veiled heads on the sides of these vases possibly represent nuns and might reflect Madame Louise, Louis XV’s youngest daughter, who entered a Carmelite convent in 1770.<br>The medallions of hunting and pastoral trophies were probably painted by Claude-Gilles Buteux (op. 1778-90) and Etienne Henry Le Guay was responsible for the gilding. Unusually, Etienne-Henry Bono (op. 1754-81), the craftsman who modelled the shape, has also marked both pieces.<br>Assembled as a garniture with three other vases in the Wallace Collection (C228-9 and C333), which have a similar 'beau bleu' and gilded decoration, the pair was sent by the comte d’Artois to the Prince de Velbruck of Liège in 1781 in exchange for four horses. By the second half of the eighteenth century Sèvres was the most admired porcelain factory in Europe and its products often served as lavish diplomatic gifts.<br>In the nineteenth century the set found its way into the collections of Felix Monfort and Lord Wellesley.<br>The gilt-bronze stands are probably French and date from the nineteenth century.
C323-4|1|1|This rare model was introduced in 1772 and seems to have been in production for only a year.<br>Decorated with a deep ‘beau bleu’ ground, the painted cameo-like medallions in grisaille are contrasted with colourful sprays of flowers.
C325-6|1|1|These vases are named after the star decoration on their lids ('étoile' means 'star' in French). The painted scene on C225 depicts a cherub eating grapes and another offering him a cup of wine, while C226 shows the effects of this revelry, the companion trying to wake the cherub who probably fell asleep after finishing the now empty cup beside him.<br>The backs are painted with flowes.
C327|1|1|The model derives its name from the Sphinx heads supported by scrolled pilasters on each side. Sphinxes were a popular motif in the seventeenth century which saw a revival in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century neoclassical design.<br>With their ringlets and exotic head-dresses, the figures on these vases are similar to those designed for the gardens of Louis XIV.<br>Decorated with a green ground, the vase’s painted decoration shows a trophy on the back and a mythological scene, probably painted by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802), on the front: Arethusa fleeing from Alpheus, as Diana enshrouds the naiad in a cloud to protect her from the love-struck river god. With slight alterations, the composition is taken from Étienne Fessard’s engraving of 1737 (copying a Tremolières painting), an example of which was acquired by the Sèvres manufactory in 1765.<br>The piece may have been part of a garniture with two similarly decorated ‘vases Bachelier à anses tortillées’ also in the Wallace Collection (see C294-5), possibly bought by Madame du Barry in 1773. Later, the three pieces came into the collection of the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn in Bentley Priory, where they were displayed until 1752-3.<br>The gilt-bronze stand is probably English and dates from the nineteenth century.
C328|1|1|The intricate flower garlands of this intricate vase are probably inspired by a similar design from Pierre-Elisabeth Fontanieu’s 'Collection de vases' of 1770. Here, they are entirely covered in gilding which gives the piece a wonderfully rich appearance. Interspersed lily branches reflect the fact that this model was introduced to mark the coronation of Louis XVI in 1775, as the 'fleur de lys' was the symbol of the Bourbon monarchy.<br>A pair of 'vases Adélaïde’ with matching decoration, now at Harewood House in Yorkshire, reveals that this 'vase du roi’ was the centrepiece of a garniture, painted by Jean-Jacques Pierre (op. 1763-1800) and gilded by Jean-Pierre Boulanger (op. 1754-1785). Certainly a design fit for royalty, the garniture was possibly owned by Louis XV’s daughter Madame Adélaïde.<br>The gilt-bronze stand and collar are later additions, probably English.
C329|1|1|This vase is one of the few pieces of hard-paste Sèvres porcelain in the Wallace Collection. The technique was introduced in the late 1760s and produced simultaneously with the less economical soft-paste porcelain until the latter was eventually abandoned in 1804.<br><br>The shape resembles the 'vase du roi’ (see museum number C328) which has similarly intricate sculpted elements and also a royal reference in its title. Philippe Castel (op. 1771/2-96/7) and Nicolas Sinsson (op. 1773-95) painted the flowers and trophies. The trophy on the front is love-themed with billing doves, a bow and quiver, flaming torch and roses, and therefore may have commemorated a marriage.
C330|1|1|The laurel garlands draped around the acanthus-leaf handles of this vase were a popular motif in neoclassical design. The model is named after its designer, Jacques-François Paris (op. 1746-97), who created several new models for Sèvres in the late 1770s.<br>The landscape on the back was probably painted by Edme-François Bouillat (op. 1758-1810) and the figure scene on the front possibly by Nicolas-Pierre Pithou (op. 1759/60-67, 1769-95). The gallant shepherd and shepherdess are taken from a painting by François Boucher, and the Sèvres painter would have used one of the many prints after it as a reference.<br>The cover is possibly a replacement made at Sèvres in the nineteenth century, as the original lid was missing by 1865.
C331-2|1|1|These vases were named after Jacques-François Paris (op. 1746–97) who designed several new shapes in the late 1770s. Jean-Armand Fallot (op. 1764–90) was resposible for thier novel decoration, including silvering the trellis work on the lower section of the vases' bodies — a decoration devised for early hard-paste porcelain at Sèvres, which could not take the vibrant ground colours usually associated with the factory. This technique was not successful as it would quickly tarnish to an unsightly black, and later the factory was to use platinum instead. The vases are covered with symbols of love such as nesting birds, a bow and a quiver.<br><br>They are among the few pieces of hard-paste porcelain in the Wallace Collection. Hard-paste wares weren’t introduced at Sèvres until the late 1760s and such large arabesque designs were specifically created for these early examples, as Sèvres was still experimenting to recreate the vibrant ground colours of their soft-paste products.
C333|1|1|This model derives its name from the two fish-tailed female figures on both sides, seemingly adorning the vase with reed swags. This motif was popular in gilt-bronze works of the 1770s and 1780s when hardstone vases were often embellished with similar decoration.<br><br>The Siren’s ‘human’ part derives from the female figure of a biscuit group designed by Josse-François-Joseph Le Riche, which suggests he also created this vase model. Decorated with a ‘beau bleu’ ground, the highly elaborate gilding was applied by Etienne-Henry Le Guay, a long-serving worker at the factory and its finest gilder, despite having lost the use of his left hand in a sword fight in 1745.<br><br>With two other vases in the Wallace Collection (C288-9) it formed part of a garniture of five sent by the comte d’Artois to the Prince Velbruck of Liège in 1781 in exchange for four horses. In the nineteenth century they found their way into the collections of the dealer Felix Montfort (also known as the Count of Schomburg, 1836) and Lord Wellesley (Brussels 1846).<br><br>The gilt-bronze stand was probably made in france in the nineteenth century.
C334-6|1|1|This splendid garniture comprises three vases of the same model, set on lions' -paw feet, whose unusual name is probably a creation of the early nineteenth century. Originally it might have been known as the vase ‘Paris de nouvelle forme’ which would suggest that it was designed by Jacques-François Paris (op. 1746-97).<br>The striking jewel-like decoration was achieved by applying enamelled gold-leaf foils on the 'beau bleu ground'. Joseph Coteau (op. 1780-4) perfected this intricate and exceptionally rich technique, and may also have decorated this garniture. Despite his success at Sèvres, Couteau's service terminated after only four years because of his difficult personality.<br>On their fronts the vases are painted with mythological scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, after compositions by François Boucher and Charles Eisen: Pygmalion and Galatea, Primavera with two Cherubs and Bacchus accompanied by two child satyrs. While these were possibly painted by Charles-Eloi Asselin, the bucolic landscapes on the backs are attributed to Edme-François Bouilliat.<br>Sèvres pieces decorated in the rare and costly jewelled enamelling technique were often given by Louis XVI as diplomatic gifts. This garniture, originally probably bought by Marie Antoinette, was later presented by the king to Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Frederick the Great, during a diplomatic visit to Paris in 1784.<br>The gilt-bronze stands are French, possibly eighteenth century.
C337|1|1|This is one of the few pieces of hard-paste Sèvres porcelain in the Wallace Collection. The model is named after its designer Louis-Simon Boizot (op. 1773-1809). The cherub handles are probably inspired by a design from Jacques Stella’s ‘Livre de Vases’ of 1667 which Boizot had already used for the design of a chimneypiece for Madame du Barry.<br><br>The dotted pattern is known as ‘pointillé’ ground, and the rich gilding is in three colours. This adds depth to the relief decoration. Most areas are burnished, for example the cherubs’ bodies. The astrology-themed medallions on the sides and the elaborate stand are in gilt bronze.<br><br>Clock vases were introduced at Sèvres in 1764 and became increasingly popular in the late 1770s.
C340-1|1|1|As its title indicates, this model was intended to be mounted and therefore is made without a foot or stem. A drawing which is still preserved in the Sèvres archives shows that it was ordered on 29 July 1782 by the Parisian luxury dealer Dominique Daguerre, who often collaborated with the manufactory.<br>Daguerre would subsequently have commissioned a bronzier – possibly the acclaimed Pierre-Philippe Thomire – to create the splendid mounts: a lion-footed base and handles formed of coiling sprays of foliage.<br>Unusually for this model, the blue 'beau bleu' ground is not plain (see C338-9), but it has been decorated with so-called singeries (‘monkey-tricks’) in gilding.<br>These playful depictions of monkeys satirically apeing human behaviour were popular in France since the early eighteenth century but didn’t appear at Sèvres before the 1780s. The colour of the wonderfully detailed gilding is in slightly varied yellow, red and green tones.<br>The pair was probably bought by Louis XVI’s aunts, Madame Victoire and Madame Marie-Adélaïde, in 1785 for the exceptionally high price of 900 livres for each piece, reflecting the cost of the lavish mounts.
C342|1|1|The striking combination of dark blue porcelain and gilt-bronze mounts works very effectively in this design. Deep and vibrant colours were much appreciated in the 1780s and the almost hardstone effect of this vase was no doubt part of its appeal. Made without stem or foot, but intended to be mounted in gilt bronze, the design for the vase came from Dominique Daguerre, a 'marchand mercier' or luxury goods retailer who collaborated with the Sèvres porcelain manufactory on several occasions. Although mounted vases were primarily for display, the cover on this model is removable and the frieze below is pierced, which would have allowed it to have been used for pot-pourri with which to scent a room. The anthemion and honeysuckle motif on the frieze is derived from the capitals of the Erechtheion in Athens, a clever conceit that betrays the passion for the Antique displayed by Daguerre's fashionable clientele.<br>In 1786 Daguerre bought four 'vases a monter' from Sèvres at a higher price than he had previously paid, which suggests that they were four of this new model. Francois Rémond recorded in November that year that he had gilded the mounts of four vases 'with corkscrew handles'. It is not known who cast and chased the mounts, but it may have been Pierre-Philippe Thomire's workshop, which was the favoured supplier of mounts to the Sèvres manufactory.
C348|1|1|A decorative piece made for display rather than use, this cup is painted with pastoral scenes by Etienne-Jean Chabry (op. 1764-87). They are based on prints after François Boucher whose pleasing subjects remained popular at Sèvres even after the artist’s death in 1770. The girls on the cup are from 'L’Ecole de l’Amitié', engraved by Jean-Marie Delattre, and the sheperds on the saucer after 'Bergère garnissant de fleurs son chapeau et berger dormant' by Gilles Demarteau.
C350|1|1|From the 1760s there was a fashion for collecting differently decorated Sèvres cups and saucers and this set would probably also have been for display rather than use. A precursor of souvenir mugs today, it commemorates the Franco-American alliance of 1778.<br><br>Both pieces are decorated with a 'beau bleu' ground; The grisaille medallion on the cup shows a portrait of Benjamin Franklin and the one on the saucer a trophy of a Native-American head-dress, alongside attributes of France and America.<br><br>Franklin was the American Envoy to the Court of France during the American War of Independence. In 1777 Louis XVI recognised the American cause and received Franklin at Versailles the following year, which led to the rapid spread of his image and him being celebrated as an apostle of liberty. Apart from the cups and saucers, Sèvres also produced small busts of Franklin, and a biscuit portrait medallion which was copied throughout Europe and made his face ‘as well known as that of the moon’.
C351|1|1|The painted decoration of this saucer is very unusual. The still-life depicting weapons, a fox’s skin, a snake, a balance and two masks is taken from an engraving by Pierre Drevet of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653-58, whose portrait decorated a matching cup (now lost). The painting was executed by Nicolas-Pierre Pithou (op. 1759/60-7, 1769-95) and the gilding by Etienne Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96).<br><br>The depiction of the anti-royalist and anti-Catholic Cromwell certainly seems a surprising choice of subject for a royal manufactory like Sèvres and he would not be portrayed again until the Revolution.<br>The cup and saucer were probably directly commissioned by Louise-Jeanne de Durfort, duchesse de Mazarin, who bought them in December 1779, although the circumstances of this commission remain unclear.<br><br>The set was separated at some stage before 1890, when the saucer was combined with another cup (see C365, also in this case). The mismatched counter-parts entered the collection of Sir John Murray Scott, secretary and residuary legatee of Lady Wallace.
C352|1|1|It is unlikely that this elaborately decorated cup and saucer would ever have been used. More likely, such wonderfully detailed examples were bought as works of art in their own right.<br>Charles-Nicolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3) was one the finest artists working at Sèvres and he painted the charming military encampment scenes on both pieces. On the cup the two soldiers are trying to gain the affections of the lady. The one in the bearskin hopes his strategy of entertaining her child will win the day; he has already given the boy his sword and a hat, and now is blacking his finger from the soot on the frying pan to give him a moustache like his own.<br>The gilding by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96) is of equally exquisite quality.
C353|1|1|Porcelain cups and saucers were an adequately luxurious means for serving costly drinks like tea, coffee and chocolate, but from the 1760s there was also a fashion for collecting differently decorated pieces. Especially examples of this model, which were often elaborately decorated or made in miniature size, were probably made for display rather than use.<br>The dog painted on this cup is after a sketch by Alexandre-François Desportes of a dog called ‘Nonette’, painted for the marquis de Livry in 1711. A collection of oil sketches and drawings by the animal painter Desportes was bought by Louis XVI in 1784, and subsequently given to the Sèvres manufactory. The scene on the saucer, taken from an engraving after Jean-Baptiste Huet, was painted by the Sèvres artist Charles-Antoine Didier, who seems to have specialised in animal subjects but whose skills also included colouring Sèvres porcelain false teeth.
C354|1|1|During the French Revolution Sèvres continued to produce luxurious porcelain wares such as this lavishly decorated cup and saucer.<br><br>Set against a deep 'beau bleu' ground, the wonderfully detailed gilding is by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96), while the mythological scenes illustrate Charles-Nicolas Dodin’s (op. 1754-1802/3) skill as one of the finest figure painters at Sèvres. The cup shows the 'Marriage of Perseus and Andromeda' after Charles Eisen, which had been engraved by Jean Massard for an edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses of 1767-71. Angelica Kauffman’s 'Beauty governed by Reason rewarded by Merit' inspired the decoration on the saucer and was engraved by Jean-Marie Delattre in 1782. The original painting formed part of a series centred on the theme of Beauty. Here, Beauty is represented as a young woman in the middle of the composition. Sitting to her right is Reason, holding a bridle that symbolizes control over physical passions. Merit holds a laurel wreath over Beauty’s head as a symbol of her triumph over foolish impulses.<br><br>Unlikely to ever have been used, they were probably intended as precious collectables. It is a measure of the success of Sèvres that domestic items were considered works of art as soon as they left the factory.
C355|1|1|From the 1760s there was a fashion for collecting cups and saucers for display rather than use, and these elaborately decorated pieces were probably made for that purpose. It is indeed a measure of the success of Sèvres that domestic items were considered works of art.<br><br>The pieces show scenes from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' which are based on engravings after François Boucher: Venus and Adonis on the cup and Venus and Mars on the saucer. They were painted by Christophe-Ferdinand Caron (op. 1791/2-1815) and the wonderfully detailed gilding is by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96), who was Sèvres’ most talented gilder despite having lost his left arm in a battle.
C356|1|1|Despite its status as a royal factory, Sèvres continued its production during the turbulent years of the French Revolution. It adapted its artistic production to include more overtly political themes such as republican attributes of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité into the decoration.<br>The symbols on this yellow and 'beau bleu' blue cup and saucer include spears and fasces representing the simple man’s weapons, a balance for Equality and Justice, and the Phrygian cap for Franchise and Liberty.<br>They were designed for Sèvres by Nicolas-Pierre Pithou jeune in 1793, the year in which the factory was nationalised on the execution of Louis XVI.<br>Acquired by 1872.
C359|1|1|Many of the tea-wares that Sèvres introduced in the early 1750s remained in production for the rest of the century, like this gobelet ‘Bouillard’, which was sold from 1753 until the 1790s.<br>The cup and matching saucer have a dotted pointillé ground which was very fashionable from the late 1760s to 80s. The painted heads imitate antique cameos, reliefs that were cut from stone and became popular collectors’ items during the neo-classical period. A cup with identical decoration and marks in the Victoria and Albert Museum was probably its pair.
C362|1|1|The European cup for drinking tea evolved gradually during the first half of the eighteenth century, adapted from the Chinese porcelain tea bowls in which tea was originally drunk when it became fashionable in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century. By 1752, the Vincennes manufactory (the early name for Sèvres) was making a wide range of tea wares, many models of the early 1750s remaining in production for the rest of the century, like this one, the ‘gobelet Calabre’ which was introduced in 1752 and is still being produced today. The cup is fairly tall, tapers at the base and has a simple scroll handle. They were sold either as part of a ‘déjeuner’ of tray, cups, saucers (sometimes), milk jug and sugar bowl or in sets with matching saucers, milk jugs, sugar bowls and teapots. The deep saucer that was paired with it was probably used for cooling liquid from the cup, and as a drinking dish.<br>The extraordinary decoration of this cup and saucer led to their being placed in store at the Wallace Collection for much of the twentieth century as Art Nouveau fakes. They are, however, perfectly genuine eighteenth-century pieces, entirely characteristic of the splendidly imaginative design of which the Sèvres factory was capable in its heyday. A teapot with similar decoration is in a private English collection and another one with the unusual blue and turqoise shellwork pattern was sold at Bonhams on 18 June 2014 (lot number 164).
C363|1|1|By 1752, the Vincennes manufactory produced a wide range of luxurious wares for the consumption of fashionable exotic drinks like tea, coffee and chocolate. Many of these models remained in production for the rest of the century, like this gobelet Calabre which was introduced in 1752 and is still produced today. Its deep saucer was probably used for cooling liquid from the cup, and as a drinking dish.<br><br>Decorated with an overglaze 'beau bleu' ground, the painted pastoral scenes on both pieces are based on prints after François Boucher: the shepherd on the cup is taken from Gilles Demarteau’s engraving 'La pipée', while the shepherdess on the saucer is from Claude Duflos’s 'Ce pasteur amoureux chante sur sa musette…' of 1751-2.<br>Despite the influence of neo-classicism, such playful pastoral scenes were still fashionable on Sèvres as late as the 1770s.
C364|1|1|The European cup for drinking tea evolved gradually during the first half of the eighteenth century, adapted from the Chinese porcelain tea bowls in which tea was originally drunk when it became fashionable in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century. By 1752, the Vincennes manufactory (the early name for Sèvres) was making a wide range of tea wares, many models of the early 1750s remaining in production for the rest of the century, like this one, the ‘gobelet Calabre’ which was introduced in 1752 and is still being produced today. The cup is fairly tall, tapers at the base and has a simple scroll handle. They were sold either as part of a ‘déjeuner’ of tray, cups, saucers (sometimes), milk jug and sugar bowl or in sets with matching saucers, milk jugs, sugar bowls and teapots. The deep saucer that was paired with it was probably used for cooling liquid from the cup, and as a drinking dish.<br><br>An example for the ornate painted decoration of the later 1760s, this cup and saucer are decorated with an elaborate pattern of gilded trellis-work enclosing pink oeil-de-perdrix gilding, while gilded flower garlands suspend monochrome medallions of classical-inspired cameo heads. The centre of the saucer features a stylized rosette.
C365|1|1|The gobelet 'Calabre', named after a shareholder of the manufactory, was one of the most popular cup-models at Sèvres and is still produced today. Its original saucer was mixed up with that of another cup (see museum number C351) and removed by Lady Wallace’s legatee, Sir John Murray Scott, at some point.<br><br>Covered with a dark 'beau bleu' ground and painted by Charles-Eloi Asselin (op. 1765-98, 1800-4) with children playing with a lamb, the wonderfully detailed gilded decoration is by Etienne Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96). Despite having lost his left hand in battle, he was one of Sèvres’ most accomplished gilders.
C372|1|1|The European cup for drinking tea evolved gradually during the first half of the eighteenth century, adapted from the Chinese porcelain tea bowls in which tea was originally drunk when it became fashionable in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century. By 1752, the Vincennes manufactory (the early name for Sèvres) was making a wide range of tea wares, many models of the 1750s remaining in production for many years.<br>This model, the ‘grand gobelet Saxe et soucoupe’, was introduced in 1760. The cup has a handle of moulded acanthus leaves which were frequently found on wares from the Meissen manufactory (located in Saxony, hence the name ‘Saxe’).<br>Both pieces are decorated with an underglaze blue ground overlaid with 'caillouté' ('pebble-stone') and 'vermiculé' ('worm-tunnel') gilding, and painted with pastoral scenes of children in landscapes. On the cup is a boy with a dog and a rifle, and a boy with a birdcage; on the saucer is a girl, frightened by an eel emerging from a fishing net above her. This delightful scene is adapted from ‘La pésche’, engraved by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince after one of eight decorative panels painted by Boucher for Madame de Pompadour’s boudoir at the château of Crécy. The source for the boy and dog on the cup – although also very much in the style of Boucher, has not been identified, but it also appears on other pieces.
C374|1|1|The fact that this jug has no cover implies that it was used for cold milk rather than hot, and it was often included with sets of tea wares. Its so-called crabstock handle, gilded to imitate the knotted branch of a crab apple tree, derives from Chinese porcelain.<br>The beautiful scale-pattern was applied by Guillaume Noel (op. 1755-1800) who has outlined each scale in gilding. The birds are probably by Antoine-Joseph Chappuis (op. 1756-1787) who specialised in bird painting.<br><br>The jug originally belonged to a large service, parts of which are now at Knole House, Kent. The dealer Dulac probably bought it from the factory and sold it either to the Duke of Dorset, ambassador in Paris from 1783-9 and resident at Knole House, or to his wife and her second husband, Lord Whitworth, who was also ambassador in Paris between 1802-3.
C378|1|1|Imported from the Far East, tea was a costly and highly fashionable beverage in Europe in the eighteenth century. The wares designed to serve it were no less luxurious and Vincennes/Sèvres produced wide range from the early 1750s.<br>This model was introduced in 1752. It was the most common teapot made at the manufactory, and remained in production until the 1780s. Like many early models at Vincennes, it was named after a shareholder of the manufactory, in this case Pierre Calabre. Given that such pots could come in a set with several cups, they seem surprisingly small. This may be because they held a very strong brew of cold tea which was diluted in the cup with hot water from separate jug. This would have been safer for the soft-paste porcelain which was less heat resistant than the hard-paste porcelain products of China, Japan and the German factories.<br>The combination of dark blue ‘bleu lapis’ ground, and gilded birds in cartouches was very popular during the early 1750s.The baroque forms of the cartouches may have been inspired by late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century French faience, and only briefly appear at Vincennes before being superseded by rococo motifs.
C377|1|1|This bowl, used to serve refined sugar with tea, was named after one of the two Bouret brothers who were shareholders at Vincennes and Sèvres. Introduced in 1753, the model remained in production until the 1780s and would usually have been part of a small tea set or ‘déjeuner’.<br>This piece is decorated with a dark blue ‘bleu lapis’ ground, the first ground colour introduced at the manufactory, and gilded with flying birds in floral cartouches – also a popular motif during the early 1750s. Elaborate tooling was used to create naturalistic effects on the gilding.<br>A firing crack in the base was concealed with two crossed palm branches in blue enamel on the outside and a spray of gilded flowers on the inside of the bowl.
C379|1|1|This egg-shaped model, with an ear-shaped handle and flower knop, was introduced in 1752. It was the most common teapot made at the manufactory, and remained in production until the 1780s. Like many early models introduced at Vincennes (the early place of production before it was moved to Sèvres in 1756), the model was named after a shareholder of the manufactory, in this case Pierre Calabre. Although the pots came in different sizes, they generally seem surprisingly small, especially given that they often came in a set with several cups to serve. The explanation may be that they contained a highly concentrated brew, which would then be diluted and cooled down in the cup.<br>Decorated with a dark green ground, a flying bird has been painted on the spout, while birds in landscapes are shown on the front and back, framed by elaborate cartouches. The flower painting and gilding on the lid don’t match the rest of the decoration which indicates that the cover may be a later replacement.
C381|1|1|Named after a shareholder of the manufactory, Pierre Calabre, this was the most common teapot made at Sèvres and it remained in production until the 1780s.<br>Although they were made in different sizes, these teapots seem surprisingly small, especially since they were often sold in a set with several cups to serve. The explanation may be that they contained a highly concentrated brew, which would then be diluted and in the cup.<br>The dotted 'pointillé' ground was chiefly popular from the late 1760s to the 1780s, while the cameo-like medallions by Jacques Fontaine (op. 1752-1800/7) illustrate the growing interest in antique art.
C390|1|1|This rectangular model was probably named ‘grand plateau carré’ and usually came as part of a larger ‘déjeuner’ (a small tea set). Although matching pieces have not been identified, it is likely that the set was split up in the nineteenth century.<br>The tray is decorated with a ‘rose mozaique' pattern, a rose ground forming trellis-work with enclosed painted flowers. While floral bouquets are also repeated on the reserves around the rim, the centre features a bucolic scene of children fishing. It is based on Jean-Baptiste Le Prince’s engraving ‘La pésche’, itself taken from one of eight decorative panels François Boucher painted for madame de Pompadour’s boudoir at Crécy (now at the Frick Collection). The scene was probably painted by André Vincent Vieillard, who specialised in Boucher-scenes and repeated this one on other Sèrves pieces. Parts of the elaborate gilding are outlined in carmine red to make the gold stand out against the rose ground.
C391|1|1|A ‘déjeuner’ was a small tea set on a tray, including cups and saucers and sometimes other items used for breakfast.<br>This set pairs a ‘gobelet Hébert et soucoupe’ and a ‘pot à sucre Hébert’, both with typically pear-shaped outlines (for other ‘Hébert’ wares, see Museum Nrs. C254, C255, C455), with a lozenge-shaped tray. This model is known to have been used exclusively for déjeuners like this one, occasionally also including a milk jug.<br>All pieces are decorated with a dark green ground and painted with children in bucolic settings (mostly based on engravings after François Boucher) and a peasant couple on the tray (taken from Laurent Cars’s engaving after a work by Jean-Baptiste Greuze). These scenes were painted by Charles-Eloi Asselin (op. 1765-98, 1800-4), who often made significant changes to the original sources. Here, Greuze's moralising painting of a woman cheating on her blind husband is turned into an idyllic outdoor scene to decorate the tray.
C396-400|1|1|A 'déjeuner' was a small tea set which was delivered with a matching tray. Vincent Taillandier (op. 1736-90) and his wife Geneviève (op. 1774-98) seem to have specialised in the combination of painted flowers and dotted 'pointillé' ground (see also museum number C296) and they may also have worked on these pieces.
C401|1|1|A déjeuner was a small tea set which included cups and saucers and sometimes other items used for breakfast on a tray. Here two cups and saucers gobelets et soucoupes Hébert and a sugar-bowl pot à sucre Bouret are paired with a tray plateau Courteille. The model of the tray was named after the marquis de Courteille, the King’s representative in charge of the Vincennes/Sèvres manufactory, to whom the first example of this tray was presented in December 1753.<br>All pieces are decorated with an underglaze blue and an overglaze green ground, a combiation which was mainly used between 1758 and 60 and technically very difficult to achieve. The blue is overlaid with an elaboate gilded pattern known as œil de perdrix (partridge’s eye). Framed by srpays of flowers, the charming figural scenes show children engaged in rustic pursuits such as fishing, collecting flowers, and churning butter. Painted by Andre-Vincent Vielliard (op. 1752-90), they are based on prints after François Boucher whose compositions were frequetly taken up at the Sèvres manufactory.<br>The service was probably bought by Madame de Pompadour at the big annual sale in December 1759. A teapot and milk jug could be missing from this service, or household examples of silver could have been used in conjunction with the porcelain. This would have been a sensible solution to the porcelain not being able to withstand very hot temperatures, which was one of the drawbacks of the soft-paste material.
C407-13|1|1|A 'déjeuner' was a tea set which included cups, saucers and sometimes other items used for breakfast, as well as a matching tray. This one is named not after the city of Paris but after the designer, Jacques-François Paris (op. 1775–81). The set would originally have comprised a fourth cup and saucer and a lid for the sugar bowl. It is made in hard-paste porcelain, a technique which had been introduced at Sèvres in the late 1760s and could not yet take the same vibrant ground colours of the earlier soft-paste wares.<br><br>The fanciful decoration is in keeping with the taste for whimsical visions of China, known as 'chinoiseries', but a direct source for the motifs has not been identified. However, the shape of the tray appears to be based on Dutch delftware plaques of the eighteenth century, and the scenes depicted on both land and sea contain elements that recall the plates from the seventeenth-century Dutch travel journal, ‘An Embassy of the East-India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China’, by Johan Nieuhoff. Published in Dutch in 1665, it was translated into French the same year and was widely known throughout Europe. Earlier eighteenth-century designs from the Meissen factory may also have been an inspiration. The painting is by Louis-François Lécot (op. 1761–4, 1772–1800), who seems to have specialised in ‘chinoiserie’ decoration on hard-paste porcelain. Sèvres déjeuners with decoration in the ‘chinoiserie’ taste were owned by the duchesse de Mazarin and Louis XVI.
C414-6|1|1|This tea set is decorated with a dotted or 'pointillé' ground and has painted trophies representing military and pastoral music. The trophies on the teapot and sugar bowl were painted by Louis-Gabriel Churlot (op. 1755-1800), who was himself a keen musician and represented the instruments in great detail.<br>The cup and saucer do not bear his mark and the trophies are less bold which suggests that they were painted by another artist.
C417-20|1|1|Such small porcelain sets were an appropriately lavish way to serve tea, since in the eighteenth century this was a costly and highly fashionable drink in Europe. The intricate pattern by Louis-Jean Thévenet (op. 1741/5-77) and Claude Couturier (op. 1762-75) also decorates a cup in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which probably belonged to this set.<br><br>It may originally have been supplied with a lacquer or papier-maché tray, which became an increasingly popular combination from the 1770s.
C421-3|1|1|These pieces were probably part of a larger tea service which was owned by the comte de Vergennes of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and originally comprised four more cups, a sugar bowl, milk bowl and tea pot.<br><br>Their intricate jewel-like decoration, set between bands of 'beau bleu' ground, was achieved by applying enamelled gold-leaf foils to the porcelain. This technique was perfected at Sèvres during the 1780s. Since the enamelling is very fragile it is likely that this cup and saucer would never have been used and were purely intended for display. It is a measure of the success of Sèvres that domestic items were considered works of art as soon as they left the factory.
C426|1|1|Covered bowls like this one were not used at the dinner table but specifically intended for the bedroom or boudoir to serve hot broths during the lengthy ritual of the morning toilette. Its two handles would have allowed the soup to be drunk directly from the bowl and the cover kept the contents warm during the powdering and dressing, while slices of bread could be placed on the accompanying plateau.<br>This set combines an oval plateau with overlapping scrolls foming handles, and a bowl with handles of twisting laurel branches, foliage and berries. As the name of the 'écuelle' indicates, it is one of the fifty-one models Sèvres created for the Turkish market (see also museum number C495).<br>The playful trophies by Jean-Baptiste Tandart (op. 1754-1800) show musical and astrological instruments, and attributes of pilgrimage.
C430|1|1|Covered bowls (‘écuelles’) and plateaux were for broths or soups, served with bead on the side. They were not used at the dinner table but specifically intended for the bedroom or boudoir where they could be used to serve food during the lengthy morning ritual of the toilette. Two handles would have allowed the soup to be drunk directly from the bowl and the cover kept the contents warm during the powdering and dressing.<br>The set combines a round plateau with a bowl featuring handles of entwined scrolls on the sides and one in the form of a laurel branch on the cover.<br>The decoration features elaborate borders of harebells and trailing flower garlands on gilded ‘sablé’ (sand-effect) ground, and a laurel wreath enclosing a trellis pattern and rosette on the plateau. It was painted by Charles-Méreaud jeune who specialised in this unusual decoration during the 1760s.<br>The pieces may have belonged to the marquis Thomas de Pange in the eighteenth century.
C434-5|1|1|Such covered bowls were intended for hot broths served during the lengthy morning toilette. Its two handles would have allowed the soup to be drunk directly from the bowl and the cover kept the contents warm during the powdering and dressing, while slices of bread could be placed on the accompanying plateau.<br><br>The set is decorated with a 'bleu céleste' ground and painted with cherubs by Etienne-Jean Chabry (op. 1764-87), the two on the plateau representing summer (sickle and ears) and autumn (vine and grapes). Three of these scenes are based on prints after François Boucher whose compositions were frequently used by the Sèvres painters.<br><br>Probably acquired by the 3rd Marquess of Hertford by 1842.
C436-7|1|1|Covered bowls like this were specifically intended to serve hot broths in the bedroom or boudoir during the lengthy ritual of the morning toilette. Its two handles would have allowed the soup to be drunk directly from the bowl and the cover kept the contents warm during the powdering and dressing, while slices of bread could be placed on the accompanying plateau.<br><br>This set is decorated with a 'beau bleu' ground and painted with harbour scenes, probably by Jean-Louis Morin (op. 1754-1787) who specialised in this subject-matter. Some of the depicted crates bear signs and numerals including a gobelet, '4', '#', 'no 4', 'no 67' and 'no 76'. The meaning of these has not yet been identified.<br><br>The wonderfully detailed gilding by Etienne-Henry Le Guay (op. 1742-3, 1748-9, 1751-96) includes naturalistically tooled reeds, garlands of leaves and berries and crossed palm branches. Le Guay became one of Sèvres’ most skilled gilders, despite having lost his left hand in a battle during his military career.
C438|1|1|Covered cups and saucers such as this one were not used at the dinner table but intended to serve hot drinks in the bedroom or boudoir. This shape was probably intended for the milk drinks commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression, or the effects of too much alcohol. For these milk diets hot or cold milk was mixed with water, wine, beer, herbal or savoury stocks and cereals. The deep saucer could be used as a bowl for cooling the drink, or as a tray to serve slices of bread.<br>This popular model, a large bucket-shaped cup with simple scroll handles and a flower knop on the cover, was introduced in 1752 and remained in production until the 1780s. Both pieces are decorated with an overglaze blue ground overlaid with dotted circles (known as ‘fond Taillandier’, after the Sèvres painter Vincent Taillandier who invented it) and punctuated with white circles containing red dots and outlined with gilding. The reserves feature colourful wreaths of flowers and foliage by Jean-Baptiste Tandart (op. 1754-1800) and the flower knop is also naturalistically painted.
C439|1|1|Covered cups and saucers such as this one were not used at the dinner table but intended to serve hot drinks in the bedroom or boudoir. This shape was probably intended for the milk drinks commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression, or the effects of too much alcohol. For these milk diets hot or cold milk was mixed with water, wine, beer, herbal or savoury stocks and cereals. The deep saucer could be used as a bowl for cooling the drink, or as a tray to serve slices of bread.<br>This popular model, a large bucket-shaped cup with simple scroll handles and a flower knop on the cover, was introduced in 1752 and remained in production until the 1780s.<br>The detailed decoration painted by Guillaume Noël features a blue ground overlaid with caillouté (‘pebble-stone’) gilding at the outer edges, blue and carmine scroll patterns overlaid with trellis-work gilding, swags of drapery and flower garlands. A stylised flower in the centre of the saucer is enclosed by a red 'oeil de perdrix' (partridge's eye) pattern.
C440|1|1|This cup was probably intended to serve milk drinks which were commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression or the effects of too much alcohol. For these rather unpleasant cures, hot or cold milk was mixed with water, wine, beer, herbal or savoury stocks and cereals.<br>The deep saucer could be used as a bowl for cooling the drink, or as a tray to serve slices of bread.<br><br>These examples have a 'bleu céleste' ground and are painted with flowers.
C441|1|1|This cup and saucer would not have been used at the dinner table but intended to serve hot drinks in the bedroom or boudoir. They were used to serve tea and chocolate or for the milk drinks commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression, or the effects of too much alcohol. For these milk diets hot or cold milk was mixed with water, wine, beer, herbal or savoury stocks and cereals. The deep-socketed saucer would have steadied the cup which suggests that this model was intended for the sick consuming drinks in bed. Introduced in 1762, it may have been specifically designed for Madame de Pompadour who was of increasingly poor health and is known to have bought several examples.<br>The pieces are decorated with a blue-ground edge flecked with gilded dashes and unusual scrolled panels. The ones in blue are overlaid with sablé (sand-effect) gilding which recalls the lapis lazuli-effect marbling previously used at Vincennes, and the diaper-pattern gilding on the red ones seems to have been inspired by tortoiseshell piquéwork.
C443|1|1|This cup and saucer would not have been used at the dinner table but was intended to serve hot drinks in the bedroom or boudoir. It used to be thought that such socketed saucers, which steadied the cup to prevent hot contents from spilling, were intended for the elderly, but Marie-Antoinette had not reached her eighteenth birthday when she purchased one in October 1773. In fact this model appears to have been devised for Madame de Pompadour in 1759 and was intended for use while she was ill in bed during her constant bouts of bronchitis. It contained those nourishing milk drinks prescribed for an invalid diet, which included mixing milk with meat broths, cereals, wine or beer, often served with bread. Socketed saucers were often decorated with complex frieze patterns and this example, perhaps imitating textiles, was painted by Charles-Louis Méraud.
C444|1|1|This cup and saucer were not used at the dinner table but intended to serve hot drinks in the bedroom or boudoir. They were used to serve tea and chocolate or for the milk drinks commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression, or the effects of too much alcohol. For these milk diets hot or cold milk was mixed with water, wine, beer, herbal or savoury stocks and cereals. The deep-socketed saucer would have steadied the cup which suggests that this model was intended for the sick consuming drinks in bed. Introduced in 1762, it may have been designed for Madame de Pompadour who was of increasingly poor health and bought several examples.<br>The elaborate decoration of this set by Guillaume Noël features ‘caillouté’ (pebble-stone) gilding on blue ground, blue and carmine scroll patterns with trellis-work gilding, lambrequins and flower garlands. The outside of the saucer’s socket is painted with a red ‘oeil deperdrix’ (‘patdidge’s eye’)-pattern.
C445|1|1|This cup was designed with a deep-socketed saucer to steady it, which suggests that it was intended for the sick consuming drinks in bed. Introduced in 1762, it may have been specifically designed for Madame de Pompadour who was of increasingly poor health and bought several examples.<br><br>These pieces have a so-called 'mouches d’or' decoration, in allusion to the beauty patches or 'mouches' fashionable women and men liked to wear. The painted cherubs by Guillaume Noël (op. 1755-1804) are in the style of François Boucher, but stylistically very different from the earlier Sèvres cherubs of the 1750s.
C446|1|1|This cup would have been used to serve tea, chocolate, or the milk drinks which were commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression and the effects of too much alcohol. The deep-socketed saucer would have steadied the cup which suggests that this model was intended for the sick consuming drinks in bed.<br>These examples have a 'beau bleu' ground and were painted by Jacques Fontaine (op. 1752-1800/7) with charming children huntsmen and hunting tophies. The gilding is by Michel-Barnabé Chavaux (op. 1752-88).
C447|1|1|This cup and saucer would have been used to serve tea and chocolate, or the milk drinks commonly prescribed to those suffering from fever, depression and the effects of too much alcohol. The deep-socketed saucer would have steadied the cup, which allowed the owner to consume drinks in bed. Introduced in 1762, the model may have been specifically designed for Madame de Pompadour who was of increasingly poor health and bought several examples.<br>Both pieces are decorated with a blue ‘beau bleu’ ground, overlaid with rich gilding of falm fronds and wreaths of flowers and laurel. The painted harbour scenes are by Jean-Louis Morin who specialised in this subject. Some of the equipment bears inscriptions, including ‘no 45’ on a bundle and ‘x/91 […?]’ on a barrel. The meaning of these has not yet been identified.
C448|1|1|One of at least three saucepan-models made at Sèvres, this model was probably intended to serve barley gruel, as suggested by the name (‘à grains d’orge’ means ‘with barley seeds’) and the decoration which includes gilded barley seed heads. Since soft-paste porcelain could not withstand high temperatues, the saucepans would have been used to serve food rather than to heat it over a fire.<br>The relief decoration is unusual for 1760 and suggests that the pieces had been produced in the early 1750s but weren't decorated until 10 years later.
C450|1|1|Lavish porcelain jugs and basins were used either in the private lavatory, or during the toilette. Displayed on the dressing-table, they were used for washing hands, as people had breakfast during the lengthy morning ritual. Although sometimes their decoration matched that of the other toilette items, they were usually sold separately.<br>This set consists of a pear-shaped jug with a flat-domed cover attached with a silver-gilt mount, and a shallow basin. Both pieces are decorated with a rose ground and painted with birds in landscapes, which are framed by elaborate gilded rocaille cartouches. Like on many pink-ground wares, the gilding is outlined in carmine which would prevent it from discolouring the ground colour.Gilded lace patterns embellish the outside of the basin.<br>The set was probably bought by Louis XV in 1758.
C452|1|1|Porcelain jugs and basins were used either in the private lavatory, or during the toilette. Displayed on the dressing-table, they could be used for washing hands, as people had breakfast during the lengthy morning ritual. Although sometimes their decoration matched that of the other toilette items, they were usually sold separately.<br>This set consists of an oval basin and a pear-shaped jug with a handle formed by intertwined scrolls. Like many models of the early 1750s, the jug was named after one of the manufactory’s shareholders, in this case Jacques Roussel. Both pieces are decorated with an underglaze blue 'bleu lapis' ground overlaid with caillouté (pebble-stone) gilding. The painted decoration is by Charles-Nocolas Dodin (op. 1754-1802/3), who was one of Sèvres's most prestigious painters. It is very typical for the mid-1750s, featuring trophies of Love and the Arts and cherubs on clouds. The latter are derived from an engraving after François Boucher whose designs were often used at the manufactory. The elaborate rocaille cartouches with geometric trellis patterns around the reserves are reminiscent of oriental lacquer.<br>The exceptionally lavish set may have been given by Louis XV to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria during the negotiations for the marriage of his eldest grandson to Maria Theresa's three-year old daughter and later French Queen Marie-Antoinette.
C454-5|1|1|Water jugs and basins were intended for use in the ritual of the ‘toilette’ or for private use in the ‘garde-robe’ as the precursor of a hand basin.<br>This set features the so-called ‘mouches d'or’ decoration of gilded dots, an allusion to the beauty patches or ‘mouches’ which fashionable men and women liked to wear. Charles-Eloi Asselin painted the Savoyard children after compositions by Jean-Baptiste Greuze and François Boucher. On the outside of the basin three children play tourniquet, and two children watch a magic lantern or peepshow. On the jug, a child is taught to play the hurdy-gurdy. In Greuze’s original drawing for this scene, he placed the figures in an interior but here Asselin has created a landscape for them.<br>The decoration is unusual and only one entry in the sales records could refer to this set, suggesting that it may have been bought by Louis XV’s daughters, Mesdames Adélaïde and Louise, in December 1767.
C458|1|1|Vincennes and Sèvres toilet wares were for the cosmetics and hair preparations used during the lengthy ritual of the toilette. In the eighteenth century this was undertaken before courtiers, friends and tradesmen.<br>This set comprises eight items; Two large powder boxes are decorated with heads of corn in relief on the top, as the face and hair powder was commonly made from starch. Gold mounts would provide an airtight seal to keep the contents dry and prevent mites fom infesting the product. The two tall pomade pots would have contained hair and face gease or face creams, and the two smaller boxes were for 'mouches', the black face patches worn by fashionable women at the time. The set also comprises a small brush for removing wig powder and a clothes brush.<br>All pieces are decorated with a green ground, highlighted with gilding and pained with sprays of flowers.<br>The service may have been intended for Madame de Pompadour, but was left incomplete on her death in 1764, subsequently being sold in 1767 to the dealer Rouveau. He in turn sold it to Queen Lovisa Ulrika of Sweden (1720 - 82) for whom it was fitted in a toilet table with matching porcelain plaques (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Sir Richard Wallace acquired it in 1872 and had a storage case made for the items.
C466|1|1|This object consists of four separate pieces. The baluster-shaped pedestal has an opening on the side to contain a small dish and it supports a hollow octagonal middle section on top of which sits a pierced cover.<br>The function may not be evident at first sight, but as often with Sèvres porcelain the decoration can provide a clue. The cherubs and trophies allegorical of the Sense of Smell and connected specifically with burning liquid perfume indicate that it could have been used as a perfume burner. Missing metal fittings would have allowed liquid perfume to be heated over oil and a wick in the little dish. Alternatively, as suggested by the hen and her chicks on the top, the fittings would have been filled with water over which an egg would have perched, lightly cooked by the rising steam. This piece would have been both ingeniously useful and a luxurious toy in the bedroom or boudoir of someone who was chronically sick like Madame de Pompadour.
C469|1|1|Mustard pots were included in most dinner services made at Sèvres. This example is however unusual, as it was designed to be mounted.<br>The 'bleu céleste'-decorated porcelain was commissioned by Jean-Nicolas Bastin (op. 1774-85), a former employee at Sèvres who later specialised in metalwork and added the elaborate silver-gilt mounts. (See museum numbers C470-1).
C472|1|1|This rare model playfully evokes the design of a woven cane basket in luxurious soft-paste porcelain. Filled with fruits or artificial flowers, such baskets probably were the centrepiece for the dessert course at an intimate supper table,The dessert was the final course of a meal in which fruit compotes, jellies, purées and jams, ice creams and sorbets, glacée or fresh fruit, and confectionery were served in elaborate arrangements with dry foods, either in baskets, or piled in pyramids. This basket was probably bought in 1755 by the marchand mercier Lazare Duvaux and sold by him in the same year to the duchesse de Mirepoix.
C473|1|1|This 'marronnière' or chestnut bowl playfully evokes the design of a woven basket in luxurious soft-paste porcelain. The trellis-work is formed of a white zig-zag structure, entwined by a blue ribbon, and its handle and the bottom im of the bowl are designed to resemble cane rods. Such 'marronnières' were part of the dessert service and used to serve glazed chestnuts. Presumably the baskets were pierced to make sure the sweets did not become soggy, allowing excess sugar or syrup to drip into the shallow well of the plateau.
C474|1|1|From 1776-9, Sèvres worked on their hitherto most challenging commission, a service for 60 place settings which encompassed 797 pieces and was ordered by Catherine II of Russia. It was the first service made in the newly fashionable neo-classical style and thus required the creation of entirely new shapes and moulds.<br><br>The spectacular service consisted of a dinner and dessert service, a tea and coffee service, and a biscuit centrepiece of 91 figures which featured a bust of Minerva – representing Catherine – surrounded by the Muses. In total, over 3,000 pieces were produced to ensure that the ones required were of sufficient quality. It was to become one of the most expensive services ever made at a European factory with a total cost of over 330 000 livres which was not paid until 1792, closely averting Sèvres' bankruptcy.<br><br>The dinner and dessert service included eight wine-bottle coolers, two of which are now at the Wallace Collection. The Empress was closely involved in the design process and specifically requested the turquoise blue 'bleu céleste' ground, the most expensive colour at the time, while the caryatid handles, trophies and mythological scenes reflect her passion for the antique. Some of the cameo-heads are in relief and were cut separately in hard-paste porcelain.<br><br>Part of the service was looted during a fire in the Hermitage in 1837 and subsequently came onto the British art market. The pieces were bought by Lord Lonsdale who later sold the majority to the 4th Marquess of Hertford. Hertford in turn only kept the six pieces which are in the Wallace Collection today (see also the four ice-cream coolers C476–9) and sold the remainder back to Alexander II. Today, nearly 700 pieces of the service remain in the Hermitage.
C482-3|1|1|These hard-paste candle-holders are very unusual and only four pairs were recorded at Sèvres, all made in 1773 and three of them sold to members of the French Court.<br><br>They are early examples of hard-paste porcelain biscuit figures, using earlier forms to try out the new material (they are probably based on Jean-Jacques Bachelier's figures for Louis XV's first dinner service in the 1750s). Both figures are entirely covered in gilding, which was applied directly to the unglazed biscuit ground, suggesting that there was a problem obtaining the whiteness of the previous soft-paste figures and that the gilding was used to conceal imperfections.
C488|1|1|Made of soft-paste porcelain, this inkstand combines all the ingenuity, technical brilliance and vibrant colours for which the Sèvres manufactory was renowned in the 18th century and is one of the finest pieces of porcelain in the Wallace Collection. It comprises a large undulating oval plateau supported by elaborately scrolled feet, on which are set terrestrial and celestial globes and a cushion in the centre supporting a crown. The plateau acted as a pen-tray, while the globes housed silver-gilt liners which served in one as an inkwell and in the other as a container for the sand or powdered metal that was used to dry wet ink (like blotting paper). The crown originally contained a bell, for ringing a servant to take away letters when written.<br>The designer of the inkstand was Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis (c.1695-1774). It is decorated with a green ground (fonds verd), in use regularly at Sèvres from 1756, and is painted in two white reserves with cherubs after Boucher, one holding a wreath of flowers and the other a dove, perhaps by Charles-Nicolas Dodin (1734-1803). The celestial globe is pricked with holes that match the position of the stars in the sky; the liner inside would have twinkled brightly through these when not in use. The gilding is of superb quality and includes inscriptions showing the longitude and latitude of major cities and the signs of the zodiac.<br>The date letter ‘F’ on the underside denotes 1759; although the inkstand does not appear in the sales records for Sèvres, the royal imagery on it suggests that it may have been a present from Louis XV for his daughter Marie-Adélaïde. Medallions on the base depict the head of the French king, the gilded monogram ‘MA’, and gilded fleurs de lis, the emblem of the French monarch. The monogram has caused some confusion in the past, and when the 4th Marquess of Hertford bought it in 1843 it was described as having belonged to Marie Antoinette, Louis XV’s granddaughter-in-law. However, from a stylistic point of view this is highly unlikely as Marie Antoinette did not arrive in France until 1770 when this kind of rococo decoration was no longer in vogue at Sèvres; moreover, one of the medallions on the base shows three fleur de lis within a lozenge shape, a motif denoting an unmarried French princess.
C492|1|1|This sculpture is in so-called biscuit porcelain, porcelain that has been fired but not glazed and therefore has a matte, marble-like finish. Introduced at Vincennes in 1751, such small, decorative biscuit sculptures were often used as the centrepiece on an elaborately set up dinder table where they replaced less durable sugar sculptures.<br>This design, a favourite at Sèvres, is based on a famous sculpture by Étienne-Maurice Falconet (op. 1757-66), known as L’amour Falconet. The marble version, made for Madame de Pompadour, was exhibited in 1757, one year before the design was reproduced at Sèvres.<br>The pedestal bears an inscription from the Roman poet Virgil’s Eclogues, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR (Love conquers all).
C493|1|1|Biscuit wares (in porcelain that has been fired and not glazed) were introduced at Vincennes in 1751, and may have been invented by the designer Jean-Jacques Bachelier. This design, a favourite at Sèvres, was based on a famous sculpture by Etienne-Maurice Falconet, known as 'L’amour Falconet'. Falconet’s original plaster was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1755, and a marble version, made for Madame de Pompadour, was exhibited in 1757, one year before it was produced in biscuit at Sèvres. Frequently biscuit figures of Cupid were paired with similar figures of Psyche, created by Falconet in 1761 (see C494).<br>The pedestal is decorated with an underglaze-blue ground, marine trophies and swags of flowers painted by N.-L. Petit, and gilding. A pedestal was designed at Sevres to go with the biscuit figures, but the one shown here in fact belongs to a different model, probably 'The Bather', also by Falconet, for which the marine references would have been more appropriate.<br>This Cupid and its pendant Psyche belonged to the marquis de Courteille (Louis XV’s minister in charge of the factory) and, on his death in 1767, passed to his daughter and thence by descent, appearing in the Paris sale of the Château de Courteille in 1847, when they were sold with the wrong pedestals.
C494|1|1|Biscuit wares (in porcelain that has been fired but not glazed) were introduced at Vincennes in 1751, and may have been invented by the designer Jean-Jacques Bachelier. This sculpture of Psyche as a young girl was created by sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet in 1761 as a pendant to the popular statuette after his famous 'amour Falconet'. The turn of Psyche's head engages with her partner who should be placed to her left.<br>The pedestal is decorated with an underglaze-blue ground, marine trophies and swags of flowers painted by N.-L. Petit, and gilding. A pedestal was designed at Sèvres to go with the biscuit figures, but the one shown here in fact belongs to a different model, probably The Bather, also by Falconet, for which the marine references would have been more appropriate.<br>This Psyche and its pendant Cupid (see C493) belonged to the marquis de Courteille (Louis XV’s minister in charge of the factory) and, on his death in 1767, passed to his daughter and thence by descent, appearing in the Paris sale of the Château de Courteille in 1847, when they were sold with the wrong pedestals.
C512|1|1|This mosque lamp is one of some twenty that bear the blazon of the Great Amir Sayf al-Dīn Shaykhü al-‘Umarī, one of the most powerful Mamluk amirs of the Islamic world in the mid-14th century. Probably commissioned in his honour, the lamp depicts his blazon at the centre of six medallions. The red outlines and elaborate use of blue and gold are characteristic of mosque lamps from this period. If looked at closely, a great deal of imagery can be seen, including flowers and schematic fish woven into the design. When many lamps were lit, their floral decoration would have inspired thoughts of a heavenly garden of paradise.<br>Mosque lamps such as this are the best known and most iconic artefacts to have been produced in Egypt and Syria under Mamluk rule. Complex and colourfully decorated lamps were commissioned to be hung from the ceilings of religious buildings, not only for lighting, but also to symbolise God’s presence and as a reminder of the patron’s piety. The inscription on this lamp, in thuluth script, is from the Qur’an, süra 24, the beginning of verse 35, the Sürat al-Nür (Verse of Light) and may be translated ‘God is the Light of the heavens / and the earth; the likeness of His light / is as a niche, wherein is a lamp’. It is the Qur’anic phrase most widely used on mosque lamps.<br>Though stunning in design, these elaborately enamelled and gilded lamps would not have been very effective in providing light.
C513|1|1|This masterpiece from the ‘Golden Age’ of Venetian glass-making is an exceptional example of the glass-makers’ technological virtuosity in simulating hardstones. The exterior of the inverted ogee-shaped bowl and pedestal foot imitate the banded agate chalcedony in contrasting warm and cold palettes. By contrast, the interior and rim of the bowl are pale green, the trail applied to its base is grey and the interior of the foot is greyish-green.<br><br>The Gothic form of the goblet, with its inverted ogee-shaped bowl and vertical ribbing, is inspired by metalwork standing cups. The vertical ribbing restricted to the lower section of the bowl is known as 'mezza stampaura', literally 'half-moulding'. 'Mezza stampaura' ribbing was fashionable for such Venetian glass objects as goblets, beakers and footed bowls in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. This goblet may originally have had a cover.<br><br>In imitating hardstones, Venetian Renaissance glass-makers were following Roman precedent. They were also exemplifying a new intellectual curiosity about the material world inspired by humanist interest in Classical texts such as Pliny the Elder's 'Naturalis Historia' (AD 77) and their own contact with more distant lands. The glass-makers undoubtedly aspired, also, to appeal to the most luxurious market and challenge the supremacy of mounted hardstones such as chalcedony, rock crystal and turquoise. Writing about Venice in the late 15th century, Marcantonio Coccio Sabellico provides us with a sense of the awe in which this kind of work was held, proclaiming that, ‘There is no kind of precious stone which cannot be imitated by the industry of the glass workers, a sweet contest of man and nature’.<br><br>The first known documentary reference to the production of 'calcedonio' glass in Renaissance Italy is contained in a contract drawn up in 1460 between Taddeo Barovier, brother of the renowned glass-maker Angelo Barovier, and an apprentice. Together with some further documents, it indicates the centrality of the Barovier family in the development of 'calcedonio' glass. It was one of the most complex and expensive types of glass to be produced in Renaissance Venice. Highly prized, it supplied a luxury market and a mounted example appears to be described in an inventory of Henry VIII's possessions taken in 1547.
C514|1|1|This Venetian glass goblet, with half ribbing ('mezza stampaura') on the lower part of the bowl and a ribbed pedestal foot, takes its inspiration from Gothic metalwork chalices. Many variants of this form were made by the Venetian glass-makers in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, but this goblet’s bowl is shallower and more cylindrical than most.<br><br>This glass may well have been made in emulation of rock crystal. From the mid-fifteenth century Venice was renowned for its best quality glass, 'cristallo', made in imitation of highly prized, colourless and transparent rock crystal.<br><br>The simple yet effective decoration below the rim, of gold leaf incised with a scale pattern and enlivened with blue and green enamel dots, is synonymous with much Venetian glass decoration of the later fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries. It has been suggested that this popular border decoration may allude to the tradition of setting jewels in gold, sometimes as a mount for rock crystal. There are traces of gilding on the ribs on the lower part of the bowl.<br><br>Documentary evidence for the Venetian production of drinking vessels with enamelled and gilt decoration at this time is provided by an inventory of the workshop of Alvise and Bernardino Dragan. Dated 20 October 1508, it lists glasses ‘worked in enamels and gilding; glasses with gilded ribbing; ... goblets with gold friezes’.<br><br>It is possible that this goblet originally had a cover.
C515|1|1|Venetian footed bowls such as this one, with half moulding of the lower section of the bowl achieved by the 'mezza stampaura' technique, were popular from at least the late fifteenth to the early sixteenth century, as is evident from the considerable number of extant examples. The majority are in colourless glass with two or three blue horizontal trails and with ribbing on the lower bowl and foot, as is the case with this example.<br>The distinctive elongated blister bubbles in the half-moulded lower section of the bowl, some elliptical and others long and pointed at either end, are a result of the 'mezza stampura' technique. They are frequently found on sixteenth-century glasses. During production, two gathers of molten glass are collected sequentially on the blowpipe. The first gather is partly inflated and, after it has cooled to the point of hardness, the second gather is collected at its tip. Due to superficial scarring of the surface during shaping, bubbles often become trapped between the two gathers of glass and, at the conclusion of the 'mezza stampura' process, appear as partial spirals wrapped around the vertical axis of the bowl.<br>These bowls might have served a variety of functions, but it is surprising to see one serving as a fish bowl in an early seventeenth-century 'Still Life' by Giovanni Battista Crescenzi.<br>A similar bowl is shown on the chimneypiece in William Holman Hunt's 'Portrait of Fanny Holman Hunt', 1866-8 (Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio), testifying to the nineteenth-century enthusiasm for Venetian Renaissance glass.
C516|1|1|This enamelled and intricately gilded armorial bowl displays the coat of arms of the Cini family of Florence. The imagery of the coat of arms has been described as ‘Azure, a mount of six hillocks, or, surmounted by a tree, sinople (vert)’. Bowls of this form were made in Italy from the late fifteenth century until about 1530. Though many examples in maiolica survive, versions in glass versions are rarer.<br><br>Four other almost identical bowls are known, their minor differences being in size and in the detail of the flying ribbons; two in the Musée national de la Renaissance, Ecouen, and two in the British Museum. The authenticity of these bowls has been called into question. Some specialists have doubted the authenticity of the bowl in the Wallace Collection on account of the surface sheen of the glass, the unusual, detailed pattern of the incised gilt band on the flange and the quality of the enamelling. Others have queried the bowl’s attribution to Venice, rather than its authenticity, observing that the surface of the glass and the bowl shape are uncharacteristic of Venetian production. However, most recently a glass-maker specializing in Venetian Renaissance techniques has observed that the glass is typical for the sixteenth century and that the techniques of manufacture and decoration are right for the period. If this bowl and the others with the same coat of arms are authentic, they provide important evidence of the production of glass dining services in the early sixteenth century.
C517|1|1|This sumptuously decorated armorial flask is a fine example of a prestigious Venetian glass made for the German market. It is exceptional both in depicting two different coats of arms represented independently of each other, one on either side, and in being fairly precisely datable. The arms are those of Lichtenstein, as borne by Christof Philipp von Lichtenstein (c. 1495-1547) between 16 August 1523 and 1526, and Rappoltstein or Ribaupierre as borne by Wilhelm von Rappoltstein (1468-1547) of Alsace. Von Rappoltstein was elected a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1516 and the emblem of the Order, a golden fleece, is suspended from his coat of arms. Christof Philipp von Lichtenstein married Wilhelm von Rappoltstein’s daughter, Margarethe (d. 1566), in 1516.<br>The Venetian glass trade with Germanic peoples was well established by this time. German families commissioned Venetian glass vessels of various types during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Several other armorial flasks in this distinctive form, known as a ‘pilgrim flask’, bear German coats of arms.<br>‘Pilgrim flasks’ are so named because their form was inspired by the flasks of similar form which, made from less fragile materials such as leather or metal, were used by travellers such as pilgrims. The suspension loops on C517 are purely decorative, but they recall those on travellers’ flasks that would have been threaded with cord or chain for carrying. The interlaced scrolls terminating in stylized foliage on the sides of C517 may be intended to suggest cords with tasselled ends.<br>These elaborately adorned flasks were both decorative and functional. Whilst set on a credenza or tiered buffet and used to serve wine or water during formal meals, the luxurious enamelled and gilded vessels demonstrated a host’s good taste, wealth and status.
C518|1|1|This elaborately decorated goblet is an outstanding example of the idiosyncratic enamelled and gilded glasses being produced in France around the mid-16th century. Probably made by immigrant Italian glass-makers working near Paris, it is one of a relatively small group of prestigious glasses that have unusual forms and a distinctive style of enamelled and gilt decoration that is inspired by, but differs from, that on Venetian glasses.<br><br>Although chalice-shaped and enamelled with the Crucifixion on its foot, C518 is unlikely to have been used during church services. Owing to the fragility of the material, the use of glass chalices for the Eucharist was banned from the ninth century. Perhaps the inscriptions referring to Christ on this goblet, ‘INRI’ (an abbreviation of the Latin phrase meaning ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’) and ‘Sine me nihil’ (Latin, meaning ‘without me nothing’), were intended to protect the drinker, since the use of Christ’s name to ward off evil is well documented at this period. Other elements of the decoration may have been incorporated for their Christian significance. The half marguerites (ox-eye daisies) incised into the gilt band below the rim may be intended to refer to the marguerite as a symbol of Christ’s blood and the Virgin’s tears. The snakes descending to the base of the bowl could refer to the miracle of the bronze serpent (Old Testament, Numbers 21:6-9), for which the New Testament provides a parallel (John, 3:14), ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.’ Alternatively, the snakes may refer to the serpent that tempted Eve before the Fall, from which humanity was to be redeemed by Christ’s Crucifixion. Either meaning would be appropriate to a drinking vessel decorated with the Crucifixion.
C519|1|1|The lightness and fragility of this delicately grey-tinged colourless glass were among the qualities for which Venetian glass was most admired in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its segmentally ribbed walls, tall, flamboyant scroll handles dexterously capped with pincered cresting, the applied trails, plain at the rim, wavy at its neck base, infuse this vase with a characterful exuberance. The gold leaf on the moulded prunts was picked up on the hot glass just before it was moulded.<br><br>Vases of a similar form, often without moulding to the bowl and neck, appear to have been produced over a long period. Fragments from Venetian-style vases with similar handles and trails at the base of the neck were salvaged from the Gnalić wreck, which sank in the late sixteenth century. Yet more than a hundred years later, vases similar in style to C519 was among the glasses acquired by Frederik IV, King of Denmark, when he visited Venice in 1708-9. Vases of comparable design, dated to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are sometimes more elaborately decorated, perhaps with a vetro a retorti pattern, applied coloured flowers, marbling or engraving. The bowl shape of C519 is atypical, an acorn-shaped bowl being more usual.
C520|1|1|This footed bowl, unusual among examples of its type in surviving with its original cover, is decorated with distinctive ‘pineapple’ moulding. This vessel form relied on a Venetian model which may have been produced from as early as the mid-1530s until the early seventeenth century in Venice or in other centres making glass in the Venetian style. There has been some debate about the function of footed bowls of this type. It has been suggested that they were probably used in pharmacies. However evidence from paintings suggests that they were multifunctional. Paintings by Osias Beert the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens, dated to the second or third decade of the seventeenth century, show examples being used to serve or drink wine. However, in 'Still Life with Flowers, Fruit and Vegetables' (North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina), dated c. 1610–1625, Giovanni Battista Crescenzi shows a bowl very similar to this one in use as a flower vase. Their representation in several early seventeenth-century paintings testifies to the popularity of this form at that time.
C521|1|1|The alternating bands of blue and white ('lattimo') canes on this stunning footed bowl were created by the 'vetro a filigrana' technique. This technique was first produced in Venice around 1527, and became increasingly widespread towards the middle of the sixteenth century. 'Vetro a filigrana' is the generic term used to describe glass with a pattern of canes either embedded in the glass matrix or fused to a glass liner. Patterns of different types are variously identified. The simple pattern of single parallel canes on this vase is known as 'vetro a fili'.<br><br>Fragments from a similar vessel excavated in Venice and the popularity of this type of vetro a fili decoration north of the Alps make the attribution of this glass difficult. However, the canes on the underside of its foot do not terminate at a central point, as was the Venetian custom. They were cut with straight shears, which was the practice in the Low Countries, perhaps indicating that the vase was made there. A repeat pattern of several 'lattimo' canes alternating with a single blue and/or red one was popular in the Netherlands in the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century and occurs frequently on Netherlandish and Bohemian glass forms. Beaker fragments from Netherlandish excavations provide evidence of the popularity of a pattern of several 'lattimo' canes alternating with a blue cane.<br><br>This bowl form is closely comparable with that of C520, which remained popular into the early seventeenth century. The survival of covers on some comparative pieces, including C520, suggests that this bowl may originally have had a cover.
C522|1|1|This colourless glass plate with a turquoise-blue rim and a slight straw tinge in the thicker area of the well was first recorded in the Wallace Collection in 1905.<br>Plates such as this are hard to date precisely because they appear to have been used over a long period of time. Simple colourless glass plates have Roman precedents. Plates occur frequently in the inventories of Venetian glass-makers and glass plates now attributed to Venice were included in sixteenth-century sets for the Italian market, such as those engraved with the arms of the Orsini and Medici, dating to 1558-76. In an English context, documentary and archaeological evidence indicates the increasing use of glass plates in the seventeenth century. This probably reflects the decline in the use of bread or wood trenchers. Several plates comparable to C522, made in Venice around 1708, are now at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. They were probably acquired by Frederik IV of Denmark when he visited Venice in 1708-9.<br>There are plates that are significantly larger and without the contrasting rim that are generally attributed to Venice and dated to the seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Among plates attributed to Venice there are also some with more complex ornament, such as vetro a filigrana or cold-painted decoration. An aquamarine-blue trail has been described as perhaps being a typical decorative feature of Tuscan production as it occurs on glasses excavated in the region.<br>While the similarity of this glass to those at Rosenborg Castle, its relatively colourless flange and blue trail suggest a Venetian origin for this plate, the straw tinge in the well is reminiscent of Spanish glass made in the Venetian style, so a Spanish origin cannot be ruled out.
C523|1|1|This vase form is inspired by precedents from Classical antiquity. Variants of this vessel shape occur in Italian art throughout the sixteenth century. Spanning the century, examples were illustrated by Francesco Colonna in 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili', published in Venice in 1499, while in the mid-century Titian illustrated a glass of this form in 'Diana and Actaeon' of 1556-9 (National Gallery, London and National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio included a similar glass in 'Penitent Magdalene', probably dating to the mid-1590s (Doria-Pamphili Gallery, Rome).<br><br>Early seventeenth-century drawings of or for glasses with similar features to those of C523 are known. A closely comparable example with handles is shown on a sheet attributed to Jacopo Ligozzi, perhaps after 1618 (Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence). The very small foot on C523 is reminiscent of those on glasses depicted by Giovanni Maggi in the 'Bichierografia' of 1604 (Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi and Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Florence).<br><br>Glasses of similar shape to C523 have been variously attributed to Venice or described as being in the Venetian style. However, the grey-green tinge of C523, as well as its large knop and relatively small foot, are uncharacteristic of Venetian production and suggest that it was made elsewhere in the Venetian style.<br><br>The gilding on the trail and knop was applied during the hot working process, in which gold leaf was picked up on the hot glass and fused to it.
C524|1|1|‘Pilgrim flasks’ are so named because their form was inspired by the flasks of similar form which, made from less fragile materials such as leather or metal, were used by travellers such as pilgrims. The suspension loops on C524 are purely decorative, but they recall those on travellers’ flasks that would have been threaded with cord or chain for carrying. Glass pilgrim flasks were both decorative and functional. During meals they would be displayed on a tiered buffet and were often used in pairs, for red and white wine or water and wine.<br>The decorative pattern` of white ('lattimo') canes on this small flask was created by the 'vetro a filigrana' technique. This technique was first produced in Venice around 1527 and became increasingly widespread towards the middle of the sixteenth century. 'Vetro a filigrana' is the generic term used to describe glass with a pattern of canes either embedded in the glass matrix or fused to a glass liner. Patterns of different types are variously identified. Complex patterns of canes like those on this flask are known as 'vetro a retorti', whereas parallel lines of single canes are known as 'vetro a fili' and a regular mesh pattern of canes as 'vetro a reticello'.<br>Owing to the combination of its shape and decoration, this flask is most likely to have been made in Venice in the second half of the sixteenth century. There is no evidence for the production of pilgrim flasks in 'vetro a filigrana' glass beyond Venice. This flask may well have been made in the third quarter of the century, since towards the end of the sixteenth-century vessels in 'vetro a filigrana' glass with mould-blown features became more popular.
C525|1|1|Pilgrim flasks derive their name from bottles of similar shape in leather or metal which were used by travellers such as pilgrims on long journeys. Whereas the suspension loops on flasks for travelling would have been threaded with cords for carrying, glass pilgrim flasks were impractical for travel and were used in a domestic environment, their suspension loops being purely decorative. During meals, glass pilgrim flasks such as C525 would have been displayed on a tiered buffet. They were often used in pairs, for red and white wine or water and wine. This example is exceptionally large.<br><br>The decorative pattern` of white ('lattimo') canes on C525 was created by the 'vetro a filigrana' technique. This technique was first produced in Venice around 1527 and became increasingly widespread towards the middle of the sixteenth century. 'Vetro a filigrana' is the generic term used to describe glass with a pattern of canes either embedded in the glass matrix or fused to a glass liner. Patterns of different types are variously identified. Complex patterns of canes like those on this flask are known as 'vetro a retorti', whereas parallel lines of single canes are known as 'vetro a fili' and a regular mesh pattern of canes as 'vetro a reticello'.<br><br>There is no evidence for the production of pilgrim flasks in 'vetro a filigrana' glass beyond Venice.The supreme skill of the Venetian glass-makers is evident in this impressive example, even on the underside, with its perfect central convergence of the 'vetro a retorti' canes.<br><br>While its colour, wall and foot-ring are characteristic of Venetian Renaissance glass-working practice, the shearing technique evidently used for the completion of the suspension loops is atypical of this production. Nevertheless, the combination of the flask's shape and decoration indicate that it was made in Venice in the second half of the sixteenth century, perhaps more specifically during the third quarter of the century.
C526|1|1|This shallow stemmed bowl, known as a tazza, is a fine example of the virtuosity of Renaissance glass-makers. The way the bowl form has been formed in a thinly blown soda-lime glass, with its very localized upturned edge evenly encircling the otherwise flat surface without becoming misshapen, is a feat of craftsmanship of the highest rank. The gilding, in the form of gold leaf, was applied and fused to the glass during the hot working process.<br>Stemmed glasses with shallow bowls, of tazza shape, were variously used as wine glasses, as items of display or for serving fruit and sweetmeats. Their considerable variety in height may indicate their purpose. This particular tazza was probably intended as a wine glass, despite its shallow bowl. There is well documented evidence from the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the Italian partiality for drinking wine from shallow glasses. This example is unusual in combining a shallow bowl with a band of 'vetro a retorti' decoration ( a pattern of white canes incorporated into the clear glass) and a lion-mask stem. Lion-mask stems were produced for a long period, from the mid-sixteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries, both in Venice and in other European centres producing glass in the Venetian style.<br>Shallow, stemmed vessels were also used in the Netherlands and some fine examples are thought to have been made there.The attribution of this tazza is based on its combination of technical virtuosity and colourless glass which epitomises Venetian production at its best. An accumulation of other Venetian features reinforces this attribution: a 'vetro a filigrana' band, milled trails and a characteristic stem form. However, the virtuosity that could be achieved by glass-makers working in the Venetian style in the Low Countries, together with the popularity of shallow-stemmed vessels there, means that a Low Countries origin cannot be ruled out for this exquisite glass.
C527|1|1|This simply constructed and decorated flask with its quintessentially Venetian features, 'vetro a fili' decoration (parallel white or 'lattimo' glass canes incorporated into the colourless glass) and a blue trail, is a delicate and elegant example of a flask form that has had enduring appeal over the centuries.The long-necked, low-bodied serving flask with a small capacity has a long history in Italy, where it is known as an 'inghistera'. The shape has Roman precedents. In the post-Roman era, 'inghistere' are known in Italy from the eleventh century onwards, and a Venetian glass-maker is first recorded as selling them in 1279. While vessels of this shape appear to have been made in Venice or in the Venetian style throughout the sixteenth century, a patent for the production of 'vetro a filigrana' glass (the incorporation of white canes to form a pattern) was applied for there in 1527 and its use increased from mid-century. 'Inghistera' were still being made in Venice in the seventeenth century.<br><br>In Italian paintings 'inghistere' are usually depicted on the table, containing water or wine. However, they were also used for other purposes. An eleventh-century bible from an abbey in Spain shows courtly diners drinking directly from long-necked, globular-bodied vessels, and examples excavated in Cremona and dated 1492 contained oil and wine. Long-necked flasks were also used to sell small measures of wine and in a pharmaceutical context.<br><br>This serving flask is attributed to Venice, or possibly Spain. Several factors indicate that a Spanish origin cannot be discounted for this glass: the canes are not drawn together at the centre of the underside in the usual style of Venetian glass production; extremely thin, light glass was a feature of Venetian-style Spanish glass at this period, and the greyish-straw tinge of the glass is characteristic of Spanish production.
C528|1|1|This elegant shallow-bowled stemmed glass is a tazza. Tazzas were variously used as wine glasses, as items of display or for serving fruit and sweetmeats. There is well documented evidence from the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the Italian partiality for drinking wine from shallow glasses such as this.<br>The bowl of this glass is decorated with a regular pattern of mould-blown bosses and has traces of gilding on its underside. Although the gilding is in a protected place, it is very worn. This, together with evidence of a binding medium, suggests that the gilding is probably cold painted rather than fired onto the glass. Glasses of various forms that have similar moulded bosses, also with worn gilding, were produced in Venice, or in Venetian style, over several decades, beginning in the second quarter of the sixteenth century.<br>This glass is similar to that depicted in Caravaggio's painting, 'Bacchus', of around 1597-8 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence).<br>The attribution of this bowl is uncertain. While the greyish tinge of the glass, the thick merese at the stem base and the likely cold-painted gilding indicate that this glass was probably not made in Venice, these features suggest a possible attribution to Hall in Tyrol. However, the shape of the glass and its moulded bosses, a feature sometimes attributed to Tuscan glass, suggest Italian production.
C529|1|1|This elaborately engraved vased-shaped vessel and cover is one of a number of such glasses made in the late sixteenth century and known as 'Vasenpokal'. Undoubtedly used as reliquaries at this time, by the early seventeenth century still-life depictions show vessels of similar shape, albeit without engraving, being used as goblets or vessels for serving wine. Many of the engraved vessels are cold painted in their cartouches with profile busts or coats of arms. However, although this bowl has empty cartouches, there is no evidence to suggest that it was decorated in that way.<br>Traditionally glasses of this type have been attributed to the glasshouses of Hall and Innsbruck in Tyrol. However more recently some scholars have taken the view that they were made in Venice, in part because glasses similar in shape or decoration to that in the Wallace Collection were used as reliquaries in Venetian churches. There is evidence to suggest that they were made both in Venice and the Tyrol. Attribution is problematic, as is indicated by the fact that between 1570 and 1591 Archduke Ferdinand II operated a court glasshouse at Innsbruck where he employed Venetian glass-makers.<br>The decoration on the glass is created by a technique called diamond-point engraving. Originally a Roman glass decorating technique, it was revived in Renaissance Venice by Vincenzo d'Angelo, who applied for a patent to use the technique on blown glass in 1549. The motifs incorporated into the stylized ornament engraved on this glass may reflect the influence of contemporary lace-making, another important Venetian industry.This engraving style and these motifs occur on a range of other vessels made in Venic or in the Venetian style in the later sixteenth century.
C530|1|1|Prized for their technical virtuosity, beauty and complexity, ewers of this type were prestigious possessions. They were broadly inspired by prototypes from Classical antiquity, disseminated via prints such as the designs for antique vases published by Agostino Veneziano in 1531. Their 'all'antica' associations would have added to their prestige. Examples in glass were produced through much of the sixteenth century. Colourless, smooth-bodied examples are depicted in several paintings dated between 1520s and 1550s, including Titian's 'Bacchanal of the Andrians', dating to 1523-6 (Prado, Madrid).<br>The decorative patterns` of white ('lattimo') canes on this ewer were created by the 'vetro a filigrana' technique. This technique was first produced in Venice around 1527 and became increasingly widespread towards the middle of the sixteenth century. 'Vetro a filigrana' is the generic term used to describe glass with a pattern of canes either embedded in the glass matrix or, as here, fused to a colourless glass liner. Patterns of different types are variously identified. Complex patterns of canes like those on the body, knop and foot of this ewer are known as 'vetro a retorti', whereas parallel lines of single canes, seen here on the handle, are known as 'vetro a fili'. The combination here of 'vetro a filigrana' glass with an elaborately mould-blown body indicates that the ewer was made in the late sixteenth century, when complex juxtapositions of this type were much appreciated.<br>This ewer is a very sophisticated all-glass hybrid in which a replacement foot with merese has been attached to the ewer below the knop, presumably because the original foot was damaged. Strong market demand for Venetian Renaissance glass in the later nineteenth century was undoubtedly a major reason for the production of such repairs.
C531|1|1|The rich and luminous aquamarine-blue bowl of this stocky goblet immediately attracts attention. The mould-blown stem incorporates opposed lions' masks alternating with stylized flower heads over swags, framed by gadroons. Lion-mask stems were produced for a long period, from the mid-sixteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries, both in Venice and in other European centres producing glass in the Venetian style. The shape of this goblet is closely comparable with that of an enamelled glass inscribed with the date 1581 in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich. That glass, attributed to Hall or Innsbruck in the Tyrol, is one of a relatively coherent group of glass vessels. Other glasses that combine a coloured bowl with a colourless stem or share different features with C531 are variously attributed to Venice or the Netherlands and generally dated to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries.<br>An intriguing manufacturing flaw is visible on this glass. It is a broken glass bead from a swag on the lion-mask stem. It occurs on a seam from the mould used to produce this section of the stem. This flaw commonly occurs in the area opposite the hinge of the mould. When the mould is not closed fully, there is nothing to contain the rapidly inflating glass wall from 'blowing out' at this small spot, leaving a hole.
C532|1|1|This unusual shallow-bowled glass, known as a tazza, appears difficult to drink from, but there is a trick to it. The lion in the centre of the bowl is in fact hollow, and, though now broke at the top, his spiral tail once served as a straw. A small hole under the lion's forequarters allowed the drinker to draw liquid up through the body and the tail. This tazza appears to be a unique survival of a trick-glass in this style made in Venice, or in the Venetian style, in the late sixteenth century. Datable tazze in various materials with stylistic features in common with C532 indicate that this glass was made in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, while C532 has manufacturing features in common with a tazza in the British Museum attributed to Antwerp and other glasses with a close kinship to it, suggesting an attribution to the Low Countries or possibly Venice.<br>The production of such a complex glass required speed and precision. This tazza was fashioned in three steps: first the lion was made and placed 'on hold' in an annealing oven; then the vessel was made; finally, in a dexterous and skilled manoeuvre, the lion was attached to the vessel.<br>A number of zoomorphic glass drinking vessels survive from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Perhaps the lion, a symbol of power and prestige, served as a reminder to guests of the status and aspirations in their hosts.<br>Water games and jokes were a feature of Italian Renaissance dining culture from the fifteenth century. Ceramic puzzle cups surviving from the fifteenth century, including C23 in the Wallace Collection, show that trick drinking vessels were already popular in Italy by that time. By the later sixteenth century the combination of dining and water jokes had become an essential feature of Italian villa entertainment.
C533|1|1|Attributed to Venice around 1600, this exceptionally thin-walled glass may have served as a container for religious relics, known as a reliquary, as is suggested by the traditionally cylindrical flanged bowl. Reliquaries made entirely of glass were produced from the end of the fifteenth century, especially in Venice. Inspired by rock-crystal examples with metal mounts, glass reliquaries were still being made in the nineteenth century. Some retain their glass cover surmounted by a cross.<br><br>Alternatively, this glass may have served as a goblet. Many similar glasses with cylindrical bowls of varying heights, either with or without a flanged base and a cover, do not have a feature associating them specifically with Christian devotion. Made in Venice or in the Venetian style elsewhere, they may have been intended as drinking vessels rather than reliquaries.<br><br>This glass is attributed to Venice owing to its extremely thin, light and almost colourless glass, and the fact that glass reliquaries in this form were produced in Venice. The similarity of its stem form to those that occur on glasses made or depicted around 1600 accounts for the dating of this example.
C534|1|1|The flattened bowl of this funnel-shaped, spirally ribbed goblet would be challenging to drink from. Several Venetian-style goblets with compressed bowls are known. They occur in association with various stem forms that are usually dated to the second half of the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The diagonal ribbing on the stem of C534 is known as 'rigadin ritorto' in Venice. It occurs frequently on seventeenth-century Venetian-style drinking glasses. Giovanni Maggi depicted a goblet with a compressed, fan-shaped bowl in his 'Bichierografia', dated 1604. An attribution to Venice for C534 is supported by the fact that Venetian glasses usually have a single merese below the bowl, while Dutch glasses in the Venetian style, for example, often have a compound, 'avolio'-like construction.
C535|1|1|The precise function of this unusual small vessel, with its relatively constricted mouth, is not known. However, surface degradation across the widest point on one side may have been caused by adhesive tape from a label that identified the contents being attached to the unstable glass. The concave neck would be a practical shape around which to secure a cover. Two similar vessels in the British Museum have similarly shaped and located areas of surface degradation.<br><br>While the simple body shape of this delicate glass points to a sixteenth century date, chain-and-scroll ornament is depicted in Italian pictorial sources dating from the late sixteenth to the first half of the seventeenth century and later.<br><br>This vessel is so unusual that there is little comparative material that might provide an indication as to where it was made. It is suggested that it was most probably produced in Venice owing to the extreme thinness of the glass and the typically Venetian contrast of an almost colourless glass body with features in blue glass. The depictions of chain-and-scroll ornament in Italian sources support this attribution.
C536|1|1|This goblet has a distinctive straw tinge throughout and features suspended turquoise-blue glass mobile scrolls on either side, from which rotatable rings are suspended.<br>Hanging mobile rings similar to those suspended from this goblet are recurrent on Baroque goblets made in Venice and in the Venetian style and may derive from German or Bohemian precedents. German barrel-shaped ring beakers dated to the first half of the sixteenth century have numerous metal rings attached to glass loops. A Bohemian goblet with suspended glass rings, in the Decorative Arts Museum, Prague, is dated 1594, showing that glass rings were used to decorate glass dirinking vessels by this time. It has been suggested that besides their ornamental aspect, the rings moving against the glass may have added a pleasing tinkling sound.<br><br>Although it is in Venetian style, this goblet is thought not to have been made in Venice, on account its relatively poor quality, both in terms of the glass itself, with its distinctive straw tinge, and its construction, together with its proportions, which give it a slightly squat appearance.
C537|1|1|This characterful Spanish rose-water sprinkler was made in the late sixteenth -early seventeenth century. Rose-water sprinklers with bulbous bodies and vertical spouts are typically Spanish, and being closely associated with Catalan production and consumption, are known by the Catalan term 'almorratxa'. They are modelled on similar Arabic vessels, from which the term derives.<br><br>'Almorratxas' were used for sprinkling rose water to sweeten the air in the domestic interior. As their decoration is often complex it has been suggested that they were used for special occasions or for display.<br><br>Decorative components of this glass are inspired by features typical of Venetian glass-making ('façon de Venise'): 'lattimo' (white) glass canes arranged in a pattern of single lines ('vetro a fili'), here radiating from the base of the bowl, and gilded raspberry prunts.<br>'Almorratxas' were also made in Venice for the Spanish market. However, this example is typical of Spanish glass made in the Venetian style in the late sixteenth-early seventeenth century, with its straw tinge and canes which imitate 'vetro a fili' but stand out in relief from the vessel surface and terminate rather crudely under the foot.The tall, hollow pedestal foot of this glass is similarly constructed to those on some other Catalan glasses.
C538|1|1|The shape of this unusual vessel takes inspiration from a German glass vessel form, the 'Kuttrolf', a container for the slow pouring of liquids, with a globular body and a long, narrow neck comprising or accessed by multiple tubes. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several variants of the 'Kuttrolf' form were produced for bottles and drinking vessels. 'Kuttrolfs' were made in Venice and in Venetian style ('façon de Venise') in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.<br>The interesting shape of this vessel opens up a discussion at to its intended function. Its wide, disc-like mouth is similar to those found on Venetian glasses sometimes described as lamps, perhaps because it was thought that the discs might act as reflectors or draught shields. However it is also comparable to a long-necked vessel in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, which has been described as a wine-taster, and it has also been suggested that vessels of this type may have been perfume dispensers, the discs intended to provide a surface for the perfume to evaporate. It seems unlikely that this vessel, with its single channel, twisted and curved neck and wide, disc-like mouth, would have been suitable for any of these functions.<br>This glass, which seems likely to have been made in Venice, has features in common with some glasses depicted in Italian drawings dating to the first half of the seventeenth century.
C539|1|1|This extraordinarily fragile colourless glass goblet, with its bell-shaped bowl and aquamarine-blue chain-and-scroll ornaments, is a very appealing object. It combines several features associated with Venetian glass production: its extremely thin-walled bowl, its lightness and delicacy, and its deftly executed milled trails and turquoise-blue ornaments.<br>Italian artists' depictions of glasses with a similar bowl shape span the first half of the seventeenth century, from Alessandro Allori's 'Christ with Mary and Martha' of 1605 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, to 'Still Life with Parakeet' by Pier Francesco Cittadini (1613 or 1616-1681) in the Galleria Estense, Modena. Chain-and-scroll ornament is depicted in Italian pictorial sources dating from the late sixteenth to the first half of the seventeenth century and later.
C540|1|1|The scallop shell was a popular motif for Venetian and 'façon de Venise' glass vessels in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It occurs also in contemporary Italian ceramics. In glass, it was a revival of a Roman glass form that had been especially popular in the Cologne area.<br><br>Scallop-shaped vases such as this one were also made in blue glass, 'vetro a filigrana', opaque white and enamelled opaline glass. The shape was used, as well, for the bodies of glass lamps and for a wine-taster in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.<br>The body of the vase was blown in a full-size mould and drawn up into a funnel-shaped neck. The taller of the opposed applied scroll handles in Prussian-blue glass is a replacement, decorated with a random linear pattern mimicking the regular hatched pattern seen on the original handle.
C542|1|1|Cylindrical beakers in glass were widely used for drinking beer in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in the Netherlands. They appear to have been a major product of the Soop glass-works in Amsterdam, active during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Beer was consumed in far greater quantities than wine in the Low Countries, and beer-filled beakers are depicted in seventeenth-century Dutch still-life paintings such as Pieter van Anraadt’s 'Jug, Glass of Beer and Pipes on a Table' of 1658 (Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis, The Hague).<br><br>The cylindrical beaker in ice glass was a popular model, with excavated finds showing that they were in great demand throughout the Netherlands. They are usually attributed to the Low Countries, and examples were certainly made at the Soop glass-works. It is likely that some were also made in Venice for export, since, although their form reflects regional taste, their decoration is in the Venetian style ('façon de Venise').<br><br>Glass with a crackled surface, known in Italian as ‘vetro ghiaccio’ (ice glass) was first made in Venice. Very successful in the second half of the sixteenth century, its popularity continued in the seventeenth century. It reflects a contemporary Italian interest in ice and iced drinks. To make ice glass, the hot gather of glass on the blowing iron was plunged into cold water, the thermal shock resulting in a fissured surface.<br><br>Cylindrical beakers were made in various sizes. At 23.1 cm tall, C542 is unusually large. Ice-glass beakers have varying degrees of ornament. This example is rather elaborately decorated as it has three stamped lion-head mask prunts alternating with three prunts depicting stylized flower-heads, the rim and prunts being embellished with gold leaf applied during the hot working process. Numerous beakers dated between the latter half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries are closely comparable to C542 and have similarly applied but varied prunts.
C543|1|1|Bowls of a similar shape to C543, also with a pair of opposed scroll handles, were produced in various sizes and decorative techniques between the mid-sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.They are often attributed to Venice. C543 combines features typical of Venetian production: ice glass and this handle form. It is possible that, like some surviving examples of similarly shaped bowls, C543 originally had a cover or saucer.<br>Glass with a crackled surface, known in Italian as ‘vetro ghiaccio’ (ice glass), was first made in Venice. Very successful in the second half of the sixteenth century, its popularity continued in the seventeenth century. It reflects a contemporary Italian interest in ice and iced drinks. To make ice glass, the hot gather of glass on the blowing iron was plunged into cold water, the thermal shock resulting in a fissured surface.<br>The denticulated decoration in colourless glass on the pair of opposed scroll handles applied to this bowl is known in Italian as 'morise'. As is the case here, 'morise' in colourless glass were often applied to a contrasting blue scroll. 'Morise' was an ornamental feature of enduring popularity for the decoration of Venetian and Venetian-style drinking glasses.While some glasses with this feature have been dated to the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, they are often dated to the wider seventeenth century.<br>Drawings by Italian artists depicting glass bowls of similar shape to C543 date to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, but glasses of similar shape, containing liquid, are also shown in paintings produced in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, such as 'Still Life with Murano Glasses' by Christian Beerentz, c. 1710-20 (Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna).
C544|1|1|The strong, contrasting patterns on this fine glass goblet exemplify the decorative extravagance of Baroque glass in the Venetian style.<br>Glass with a crackled surface, known in Italian as ‘vetro ghiaccio’ (ice glass), was first made in Venice. Very successful in the second half of the sixteenth century, its popularity continued in the seventeenth century. It reflects a contemporary Italian interest in ice and iced drinks. To make ice glass, the hot gather of glass on the blowing iron was plunged into cold water, the thermal shock resulting in a fissured surface.<br>The diagonal ribbing on the stem, known as 'rigadin ritorto' in Venice, occurs frequently on seventeenth-century Venetian-style drinking glasses. Compositional analysis has shown that some stem forms similar to that of C544 were not produced in Venice but elsewhere in the Venetian style ('façon de Venise').<br>C544 is probably Venetian, combining as it does several features typical of Venetian production: skilful construction, a blue trail and mereses at either end of a spirally ribbed stem. However, since its slight straw tinge is a characteristic of Spanish glass in the Venetian style, and this form of stem shaft is known to have been produced outside Venice in the 'façon de Venise', the possibility that this glass was not made in Venice cannot be excluded.
C545|1|1|The tall, tapering flute was the quintessential wine-glass of wealthy Dutch mercantile society from the late sixteenth to late seventeenth centuries.They were produced in large quantities and were made in Venice for the Dutch market as well as in the Low Countries in the Venetian style ('façon de Venise'). Once the fashion for wearing wide ruffs began, around 1625, drinking from a flute may have been a practical measure. Some flutes retain their covers.<br><br>Flutes were usually colourless, allowing full appreciation of both the colour of the wine and the quality of the transparent glass. They were often depicted in seventeenth-century Dutch interior scenes and still lifes. Some paintings include a flute similar to C545, such as ‘Pewter Jug and Silver Tazza on a Table’ by Jan Jansz. den Uyl (Private collection, London), which is dated 1633.<br><br>The form of stem shaft seen on C545 occurs on glasses dated to the end of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. The denticulated ornament on its opposed scroll wings is known in Italian as 'morise'. 'Morise' was an ornamental feature of enduring popularity for the decoration of Venetian and Venetian-style drinking glasses.While some glasses with this feature have been dated to the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, they are often dated to the wider seventeenth century.<br><br>Due in part to the purity of its untinted, colourless glass, C545 is thought probably to have been made in Venice, but fine Venetian-style glass was also made in the Netherlands, so some uncertainty as to its place of manufacture remains.
C546|1|1|This goblet's bowl is distinctive not only for its unusual shape, with its hollow ring-shaped band and domed base, but also for its stunning aquamarine-blue colour. The date of the goblet's production is uncertain. Its unusual bowl shape and its glossy surface, uncharacteristic for sixteenth to seventeenth century production, have led to the suggestion that it might be a nineteenth-century Venetian glass inspired by historic Venetian and Venetian-style ('façon de Venise') examples. However, the goblet may have been made in late sixteenth to seventeenth century Venice. It is akin in style to a colourless goblet with a closely comparable, smooth-walled bowl and a spirally ribbed stem in the Corning Museum of Glass that is attributed to seventeenth century Venice. The possibility that the goblet was made in this earlier period but outside Venice, though in the 'façon de Venise, cannot be ruled out.
C547|1|1|The shape of this bowl is reminiscent of an exceptional Byzantine glass bowl made in Constantinople in the tenth century and taken as Venetian booty in 1204. Recorded in the Treasury of St Mark's, Venice, by 1325, it may have been known to the Venetian glass-makers and their patrons.<br>The dating of C547 is assisted by contemporary documentation and depictions of similar glassses in visual sources. A document dated 16 September 1594 refers to a monopoly for glasses decorated with threads of gold glass to be made in the Medici glasshouse in Pisa, indicating that glasses with applied threads were made in Tuscany at that time. Small bowls with slightly everted rims and handles like those on C547 are among glasses in a model book with anonymous drawings dating to the first two decades of the seventeenth century in the Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome, and bowls with handles of C547 type feature in paintings dating to the first half of the seventeenth century such as Gioacchino Assereto's 'Isaac Blessing Jacob' (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)', dated 1640-50.<br>There are many bowls with similar shape and handles to this one but without the everted rim, moulded bosses and trails. They were produced in a range of decorative techniques including white glass ('lattimo'), 'calcedonio' and ice glass.<br>This bowl is attributed as Venetian or 'façon de Venise' because, although it is Venetian in style, the grey tinge of the glass and the presence of many air bubbles may indicate production outside of Venice, perhaps in Tuscany.
C548|1|1|The form of this standing bowl and cover derives ultimately from medieval metalwork prototypes as seen, for example, in the late fourteenth century French Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum. C548 is a shallower version of glass standing cups with covers made in Venice from the late fifteenth century. Vessels of C548 type may have been multi-functional, perhaps suitable for use as part of a set for the dressing preparations known as the toilet or as a confectionery box.<br><br>Vessels of C548 type may have been produced over a long period. While the ribbed knop and pedestal foot occur in sixteenth-century Venetian glass and pedestal bowls were in use in the Low Countries by the early seventeenth century, the blue chains and finials comprising a 'propeller-pattern' element and terminal ball, both features of C448, occur on glasses acquired in Venice by Frederik IV, King of Denmark, in 1708-9.<br><br>The quality of its colourless glass and craftsmanship as well as other typically Venetian features, including contrasting elements in blue glass, support an attribution to Venice for C548.
C549|1|1|Salvers such as this were used for the presentation of drinks and sweetmeats. They were proffered either independently or incorporated into a pyramidal serving piece known in Italian as an 'alzata'.<br><br>Salvers of this type, with their characteristic blue chain framed by colourless milled trails, are not uncommon. Many are enhanced with a band of diamond-point engraved foliate decoration.The salvers are often attributed to Venice.This one is an exceptionally refined and accomplished example.The skill required to produce its localised, even, upturned rim adjacent to an otherwise flat surface in thinly blown soda-lime glass is masterly. This salver is also unusually ornate in incorporating a spirally ribbed knop between mereses. Salvers of this type are variously dated between the second half of the sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries, but most frequently to the seventeenth century. The broad date span given for this example takes into account the fact that the ribbed knop and pedestal foot occur on sixteenth-century Venetian glasses but also that the applied blue chain between colourless milled trails is seen, too, on the salver presented to Frederik IV of Denmark when he visited Venice in 1708-9. C549 is attributed to Venice owing to its fine craftsmanship, typically Venetian features and similarity to the example given to Frederik IV in Venice.
C550|1|1|Of the few published glasses akin in form to this goblet none matches the accomplishment, finesse and exuberance of this stunning glass. Its bowl shape, stem form and combination of a coloured bowl and colourless stem are all features that are independently dated to the seventeenth century.<br>This stem form occurs frequently on glasses with various bowl shapes dated from the second half of the sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth century and attributed to Venice or as being in the Venetian style ('façon de Venise'). This is the case with the bowl shape, which is found in combination with various stem forms usually dated to the seventeenth century and attributed to Venice or as 'façon de Venise'.<br>Drinking glasses of fine quality in the Venetian style were much appreciated in the Netherlands, where the standard of glass-making was very high. Although this glass was probably made in Venice, the possibility that it was inspired by Venetian glass-making but made elsewhere, perhaps in the Netherlands, cannot be excluded.
C551|1|1|Opinion among glass specialists is divided as to whether this goblet is a genuine seventeenth-century goblet, or a nineteenth-century glass inspired by earlier examples in the Venetian style (façon de Venise). No exact parallels to this glass are known. However, Venetian-style goblets of a comparable shape with a similar bowl to stem proportion are variously dated to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.From a technical point of view, the construction of this goblet is not typical of Venetian production: the merese is poorly made and applied and the foot has been added directly to a hollow bulge at the base of the stem, without the inclusion of a merese between these components. The bulbous terminal is alien to Venetian practice. However, Spanish glass made in the 'façon de Venise' often has a yellow or straw tinge, as does this goblet, while the wide, lobed mouth and small foot seen here are design features of Spanish glass. Furthermore, unusaully shaped goblets sometimes occur in seventeenth-century 'façon de Venise' glass. Therefore there is a strong likelihood that this glass was made in seventeenth-century Spain in the 'façon de Venise', though a nineteenth-century origin cannot be entirely discounted.
C552|1|1|This exuberant goblet exemplifies the consummate skill of glass-makers working in the Venetian tradition. It features an unusually wide bowl with broken half-ribbing radiating from its base and a continuous applied trail that encircles it ten times. An 'avolio' (spool-shaped construction) at each end of the open-work section joins the stem to the bowl and to the foot.<br>Goblets with broken half-ribbing occur in a number of paintings dating between the early seventeenth century and the 1660s by artists of various schools. The feature appears to have been at its most fashionable from the 1640s to the 1660s, as is shown by the majority of the dated paintings, including ‘Still Life with Oysters and Grapes’ by Jan Davidsz. de Heem, of 1653 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Its use may have continued into the early eighteenth century. Broken half-ribbing was a popular feature of the 'façon de Venise', especially in the Low Countries. Bowls with broken half-ribbing regularly occur in conjunction with stem features which are often dated to the seventeenth century, such as spiral ribbing and winged elements, both of which feature on C552. Here, the openwork section comprises a spirally ribbed tube in a figure-of-eight embellished with opposed wings suggesting sea-horses with pincered manes at right angles to opposed dark-blue C-shaped scroll wings. Based on the evidence of glasses depicted in Dutch paintings, the elaborate openwork stem of C552 suggests that it was made in the mid-seventeenth century.
C553|1|1|The bowl of this composite glass was originally combined with a colourless stem of the present type, as shown by the top knop, which was originally colourless but now appears green (see 'Current Condition'). Stems of this type usually incorporate four or five knops, but here the creation of a composite vessel, combining parts from two different glasses, has resulted in a six-knop stem.<br><br>Hollow stems with diminishing knops were made throughout the seventeenth century, as is shown by drawings of glasses by Italian artists such as Jacopo Ligozzi (Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe degli Uffizi) that date to the early part of the century and three glasses incorporating coins dating to the later part of the century. One of the latter (Corning Museum of Glass), containing a coin of Pope Innocent XI and dated to between 1676 and 1689, also has a similar bowl shape to C553.<br><br>Diamond-point engraving, originally a Roman glass decorating technique, was revived in Renaissance Venice by Vincenzo d'Angelo, who applied for a patent to use the technique on blown glass in 1549. The somewhat crude style of diamond-point engraving seen on the bowl of C553 recurs on many Venetian-style drinking glasses, with a variety of bowl and stem forms. Glasses on colourless stems, with variously shaped mulberry bowls bearing crudely engraved floral decoration, are not uncommon.<br><br>Composite Venetian-style glasses reflect the demand for Venetian Renaissance glass amongst collectors in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.
C554|1|1|This goblet has an elaborate stem that coils in a snake-like way and culminates below the bowl in a pair of opposed, stylised dragons’ heads with tooled combs. Drinking vessels with stems of this type are known as serpent-stem goblets. They provided seventeenth-century glass-makers working in the Venetian tradition with the opportunity to beguile and baffle the beholder with their virtuosity. Such goblets were very popular from the 1660s to the 1680s.<br><br>Complex compound stems were first produced in Venice at the end of the sixteenth century, but were later made in other centres, being especially popular in the Low Countries and continuing in production until at least the end of the seventeenth century. Serpent-stem goblets were produced in a number of Northern glass-houses, but stylistic and compositional similarities make their attribution to a specific region or city hazardous. Ultraviolet examination of this goblet has shown that it is a soda lead glass, a compositional type associated with the transition in Northern Europe from Venetian soda glass to lead crystal.<br><br>With their complex stems, serpent-stem goblets took longer to make than simpler drinking glasses. This goblet is unusual as it has four small arch-topped wings bordering each side of its serpent stem section instead of two or three. Although numerous still lifes depict goblets with coiled serpent stems, hardly any paintings show the winged type, which has survived in far greater numbers.
C555|1|1|This cruet is a composite vessel, its original foot having been damaged and replaced with a foot attached to it with adhesive. Three applied mask prunts, one on the spout and one on either side of the body, embellish the glass.<br>There are numerous cruets that are similar to this one, attributed as Venetian or façon de Venise and dated from the mid-sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Their shape is reminiscent of traditional Oriental prototypes in other materials.<br><br>Glass cruets were often used in pairs: for wine and water for mass or in a secular context for wine or oil and vinegar. The 1424 inventory of the Gambassi glass-maker Bernardo de Carpensis draws a distinction between cruets for domestic and liturgical use.<br><br>Glass cruets for liturgical use span many centuries. Fragments from a fourteenth-century colourless glass cruet unearthed at the church at Ganagobie in Provence display features of form and decoration in common with this cruet. In a secular context glass cruets were not only used for dining; small cruets of similar shape to this cruet were also made for pharmaceutical use.
C556|1|1|The body of this small amber glass scent-bottle is mould-blown with ribs throughout. It has an applied colourless glass foot and six applied and gilded blue glass raspberry prunts. The gilded prunts locate it within the Venetian glass-making tradition, while its double gourd shape suggests Asian influence. Vessels of similar form were appreciated in Italy by at least the mid-seventeenth century. A closely comparable vessel is depicted in the ‘Libro del Serenissimo Signore Principe Luigi d’Este’, a series of designs for Venetian-style glasses produced between about 1617 and 1664, but probably made in the first half of the seventeenth century. However, the scent-bottle cannot be firmly attributed to Venice because it shares characteristics with glasses that have been attributed to other centres making glass in the Venetian style.<br><br>There are similarly shaped bottles in various sizes, both ribbed and smooth-sided, that are made from other glass materials, such as opaline and colourless glass.<br><br>The scent-bottle would originally have had a stopper.
C557|1|1|Glass bottles and covers of this form, in a range of decorative techniques, were fashionable in the early eighteenth century. They were used for serving wine. When King Frederik IV of Denmark visited Venice in 1708–9 he acquired similar bottles.<br><br>This bottle and cover, with vertical mould-blown ribs, is in ice glass. Made in imitation of ice, Venetian ice glass was very popular in the later sixteenth century and its popularity continued in the seventeenth century. It reflects the contemporary interest in ice and iced drinks, especially wine. To achieve the fissured surface, which resulted from thermal shock, the hot, partially inflated gather of glass on the end of the glassmaker’s blow pipe was plunged into cold water.
C559|1|1|The shape of this cruet is typical of examples in Venetian glass and reminiscent of traditional Oriental prototypes in other materials. Colourful polychrome glass flowers, like those applied to the cruet body, were a Venetian speciality. There is documentary evidence for their use on Venetian glass from the last quarter of the seventeenth century, but this style of ornament became especially widespread in the eighteenth century. Their presence on this cruet is helpful for dating the piece.<br><br>This cruet is in fact a composite vessel, assembled from separate components that did not belong together originally. In this case four components were added to a damaged cruet: the foot and the blue ring above the foot; the spout; and the mask prunt on the spout. Strong market demand for Venetian Renaissance glass in the later nineteenth century was undoubtedly a major reason for the production of such repairs.<br><br>Glass cruets were often used in pairs: for wine and water for mass or in a secular context for wine or oil and vinegar. The 1424 inventory of the Gambassi glass-maker Bernardo de Carpensis draws a distinction between cruets for domestic and liturgical use.<br><br>Glass cruets for liturgical use span many centuries. Fragments from a fourteenth-century colourless glass cruet unearthed at the church at Ganagobie in Provence display features of form and decoration in common with this cruet. In a secular context glass cruets were not only used for dining; small cruets of similar shape to this cruet were also made for pharmaceutical use.
C560|1|1|This flamboyant vessel, with its straw tinge and applied lattimo canes inspired by Venetian vetro a filigrana glass, displays the exuberance of Spanish glass in the façon de Venise.<br><br>The càntir is a drinking vessel of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most usually associated with the consumption of water. The vessel was filled through the short spout; the long, narrow spout produced a well-regulated flow that enabled the drinker to drink without putting his lips in contact with the glass, so it could be used hygienically for communal drinking.<br><br>The càntir is a characteristic eighteenth-century Catalan glass vessel. Throughout the eighteenth century one of the most popular decorative features of Catalan glass was the application of lattimo ‘threads’. The technique employed and results obtained were less skilled than those of the Venetian glass-makers, as is demonstrated on this càntir by the lattimo canes which terminate randomly under the foot rather than converging at its centre.
C563|1|1|This type of enamelled drinking glass, known as a Humpen, was a popular vessel in Bohemia and Germany for use at festive gatherings. The Humpen was one of the most abundantly produced types of enamelled glass in seventeenth-century Bohemia and Germany. They were at their most popular from the 1570s until well into the seventeenth century and many have survived. Many originally had covers, but these have often been lost or broken.<br><br>Drinking scenes were a popular subject for enamellers of German and Bohemian glass. There was a tradition of welcoming guests by presenting them with a capacious drinking cup or tankard. This beaker is a Willkomm, a category of Humpen specifically intended to be used for welcoming guests. Inscriptions on Willkomm beakers describing their function as welcoming glasses are not uncommon. The inscription in block capitals encircling this example means, ‘I am called a good welcome and very frolicsome so’. Beer or wine would have been drunk from the glass. In 1688 a French traveller recorded that in Germany, ‘Every Draught must be a Health, and as soon as you have emptied your glass, you must present it full to him whose Health you drank.’ This custom is reflected in another inscription on this glass, which translates, ‘Raise me up, drink me up, set me down, fill me again and bring me a good brother again’.
C564|1|1|The neck, squat body and separately formed pedestal foot of this thick-walled colourless glass vase are mould-blown throughout with pronounced ribs. The pair of applied scroll handles is also rib-moulded.<br><br>This vase is unusual on account both of its shape and the severity of its glass sickness (crizzling), caused by chemical instability. Stylistically and in its state of deterioration it has much in common with two blue glass vases in the British Museum, the ‘Amiens Chalice’ and a vase from the Slade bequest. Their close kinship suggests a common origin for the three glasses. Attribution of the British Museum glasses has fluctuated dramatically since the 1860s. An attribution to late seventeenth-century France seems likely for the three glasses by stylistic comparison with French ceramics of the period and similar vase forms in other materials that were appreciated by the French court at the time, such as those in bronze by François Anguier and Claude Ballin for the gardens at Versailles. Due to the severely deteriorated condition of the Wallace Collection glass, it cannot be attributed on the basis of analysis results. However, analysis results for the British Museum glasses are compatible with an attribution to late seventeenth-century France.
C570|1|1|This delicate, thin-walled scent bottle is the only glass in the Wallace Collection produced by the flame-working technique. No parallel is known for the decoration of small dots of applied glass over the entire body of a similar vessel, so that the origin of this glass is uncertain, though a nineteenth-century date seems likely.<br><br>Intended as a container for scent, or possibly for snuff, this glass would originally have had a stopper. The two suspension loops at its neck suggest that it was supposed to hang from a thread, perhaps attached to a chatelaine chain, although this would be impractical owing to its fragility. There is no indication that the broken loop originally made contact with the neck.<br><br>The horn-like shape of this glass has many larger, wide-mouthed precedents in the form of glass drinking vessels from various periods. Cut glass horn-shaped scent- or smelling-bottles were made in England in the second half of the nineteenth century.
C571|1|1|St Catherine of Alexandria is depicted with her attributes of a book as patron of education and learning, and a sword, the symbol of her martyrdom by beheading. She triumphs over the pagan Emperor Maxentius, who ordered her death. The inscription invokes the saint to intercede on behalf of the suppliant. In the Middle Ages St Catherine was one of the most venerated female saints. She was believed to give protection against disease and sudden death. Devotion to St Catherine increased in France in the fifteenth century following her rumoured appearance to Joan of Arc.<br><br>The plaque is attributed to the Master of the Orléans Triptych because it shares several stylistic characteristics with the so-called Orléans Triptych in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans, around which attributions have been made to this anonymous workshop.The plaque appears to have come from the same small devotional altarpiece as C572.
C572|1|1|St Francis was born into a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy, and lived a carefree youth until he had a vision of Christ calling him to save the Church. Renouncing worldly goods, he dedicated himself to a life of poverty, charity and preaching. In 1209 he founded the Order of Friars Minor [lesser brothers], which grew rapidly in his lifetime. Adherents became known as Franciscans. Canonised in 1228, the saint is depicted here as a Franciscan monk.<br><br>The cult of St Francis was widespread in fifteenth-century France. This plaque illustrates a miraculous event in the saint’s life, when he received the stigma, the five marks corresponding to the wounds of the crucified Christ. This event occurred on or around 14 September 1224. Whilst praying, Francis had a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel, on a cross. The seraph marked his hands, feet and side with the stigmata.<br><br>The plaque is attributed to the Master of the Orléans Triptych because it shares several stylistic characteristics with the so-called Orléans Triptych in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans, around which attributions have been made to this anonymous workshop. The plaque appears to have come from the same small devotional altarpiece as C571.
C573|1|1|This plaque is attributed as a late work of the workshop of the Master of the Orléans Triptych. It is not dated, but several criteria indicate that it was probably made around 1500–10. It is closely comparable with two similarly attributed and dated enamels, one in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes, the other in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections until at least 2015. Their composition was probably inspired by an anonymous north Italian engraving of the subject dating to around 1480–90. Enamels from the workshop’s late period are deemed to show the earliest evidence amongst the Limoges enamellers of the influence of the Italian Renaissance.<br><br>The plaque was probably intended as an individual image for private devotion. It may be a straightforward depiction of the education of the Christ Child. However, the book may have deeper meaning. When shown open it is a traditional symbol of wisdom and truth, so that the scene may be intended to indicate that Christianity is the true religion. The inclusion of the book could also allude to Mary as the ‘Mater Sapientiae’, the Mother of Wisdom. Since Christ also holds the book, it may be used here as a symbol of the New Testament or the Gospels.
C589|1|1|This celebrated plaque is the only fully signed and dated enamel by Jean de Court, whose identity has been debated by enamel specialists since the nineteenth century. It is possible that he can be identified with Jean Court, whose prolific workshop used the maker's mark IC; with the enameller Jean Court dit Vigier, who was active between 1555 and 1558, sometimes writing his full name, sometimes using the mark ICDV; and with the court painter Jean de Court, last cited in an archival document in 1585. A possible connection with the enameller who used the mark IDC (see C594) also continues to be a subject of discussion.<br><br>The plaque depicts Marguerite de France (1523–1574), daughter of François I, as Minerva, the goddess of war and wisdom in Classical mythology. Marguerite was known for her erudition and for her encouragement of contemporary French writers. The poet Pierre Ronsard first made the analogy between Marguerite and Pallas/Minerva in 1549. From then until 1559, when she married Emmanuel-Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and moved to his court at Turin, French writers repeatedly identified Marguerite, who in her wisdom championed their writing against ignorance, with Pallas/Minerva. This identification was highly topical in 1555, the year when this plaque was made: Ronsard repeated the analogy that year and it was extensively developed by François de Billon. As a symbol of the universe, the armillary sphere expresses the concept of the spread of Marguerite’s fame throughout the universe and may allude to her motto, ‘Rerum sapientia custos’ [Wisdom, guardian of the world].<br><br>Marguerite’s head is after a version of a drawing of her attributed to François Clouet around 1555 (Musée Condé, Chantilly). For Marguerite’s armour, the sphere, books and owl, de Court took inspiration from René Boyvin’s engraving of Minerva after Luca Penni.
C590|1|1|This bowl, like C591 and C592, is marked IC for the workshop using the maker’s mark IC, which was active from the mid-16th to the early 17th century. The mark probably originated as that of an enameller named Jean de Court who ran a prolific workshop and may perhaps be identified with the enameller who signed C589 with his name in full in 1555. The workshop using the mark IC regularly depicted Old Testament subjects. Their grisaille enamels are usually dated to the second half of the sixteenth century.<br><br>The battle depicted here is described in the biblical book of Exodus (17:8-13). During their wanderings in the desert the Israelites camped at Rephidim. The Amalekites met them there and a battle ensued, in which the Israelites were led by Joshua. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but when his hand dropped the Amalekites prevailed. At the point shown on the bowl, Moses has grown weary and is seated on a mound in the background on the right while Aaron and Hur hold up his hands. The Israelites won the battle at sunset.<br><br>The scene is after a woodcut by Bernard Salomon from ‘Quadrins historiques de la Bible’ by Claude Paradin, first published in Lyons 1553. Salomon’s prints from the book were used extensively by the Limoges enamellers and much favoured by the workshop using the maker’s mark IC. This scene occurs on several similar footed bowls by the workshop, including one in grisaille in a private collection and a polychrome example in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.<br><br>Wide, shallow bowls like this would not have had a cover.
C591|1|1|This bowl, like C590 and C592, is marked IC for the workshop using the maker’s mark IC, which was active from the mid-16th to the early 17th century. The mark probably originated as that of an enameller named Jean de Court who ran a prolific workshop and may perhaps be identified with the enameller who signed C589 with his name in full in 1555. The workshop using the mark IC regularly depicted Old Testament subjects. Their grisaille enamels are usually dated to the second half of the sixteenth century.<br><br>The form and decorative style of this bowl are typical of the workshop using the mark IC and similar to C590. The scene in the bowl shows several episodes from the story of Noah and the flood in the biblical book of Genesis (6-9). In the centre background the ark is on the water; on the left, people are trying to escape the flood; in the right background, the waters have begun to recede; in the foreground, the flood waters have receded and the survivors, comprising Noah, his family, animals and birds, emerge from the ark onto dry land.<br><br>Some details and the overall style of the scene appear to be loosely derived from two prints on this theme published by Etienne Delaune in his print series ‘Histoire de la Genèse’ in 1569. The scene depicted on the bowl occurs on three further footed bowls by the workshop using the mark IC, two in grisaille (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris) and one in polychrome enamel (British Museum).<br><br>Wide, shallow bowls like this would not have had a cover.
C592|1|1|This plate, like C590 and C591, is marked IC for the workshop using the maker’s mark IC, which was active from the mid-16th to the early 17th century. The mark probably originated as that of an enameller named Jean de Court who ran a prolific workshop and may perhaps be identified with the enameller who signed C589 with his name in full in 1555. The workshop using the mark IC regularly depicted Old Testament subjects.<br><br>The plate illustrates an episode from the Old Testament story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50), a theme that was a speciality of this workshop. The episodic nature of the story lent itself to the production of serial items, such as plates. C592 was probably part of a larger set illustrating the story. It may be from the same set as C593, which does not have a maker’s mark. No complete set has been identified, but surviving examples suggest that the workshop may have made at least four sets.<br><br>The source for the central scene on C592 is a woodcut by Bernard Salomon from the ‘Quadrins historiques de la Bible’ by Claude Paradin, first published in Lyons in 1553. Joseph has broken off from supervising the storage of grain to converse with Pharaoh. The lavish use of jewel-like paillons, small areas of translucent coloured enamel over foil, together with intricately detailed gilt patterns, and the use of polychrome enamel rather than grisaille, indicate a production period towards the end of the sixteenth or early in the seventeenth century.
C593|1|1|This plate is attributed to the workshop using the maker’s mark IC, which was active from the mid-16th to the early 17th century. The workshop using the mark IC regularly depicted Old Testament subjects. The plate illustrates an episode from the Old Testament story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50), a theme that was a speciality of this workshop. The episodic nature of the story lent itself to the production of serial items, such as plates. C593 was probably part of a larger set illustrating the story. It may be from the same set as C592, which is inscribed with the IC mark. No complete set has been identified, but surviving examples suggest that the workshop may have made at least four sets.<br><br>The central scene illustrates a pivotal moment in the story, when Joseph is imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempting to rape the wife of his employer, Potiphar. The source for the composition is a woodcut by Bernard Salomon from the ‘Quadrins historiques de la Bible’ by Claude Paradin, first published in Lyons in 1553. The lavish use of jewel-like paillons, small areas of translucent coloured enamel over foil, together with intricately detailed gilt patterns and the use of polychrome enamel rather than grisaille, indicate a production period towards the end of the sixteenth or early in the seventeenth century.
C595|1|1|The viol-playing god Apollo presides over the nine music-making Muses, while behind them two poets crowned with laurel wreathes converse. The winged horse Pegasus stamps to prevent the mountain from rising in response to the music. His stamping creates the Hippocrene stream, personified by the young woman below Apollo who pours water from a vase. The composition derives ultimately from Raphael’s Parnassus fresco in the Vatican, but its direct source is an engraving after a drawing by Luca Penni. Penni’s modifications to Raphael’s composition include the addition of Pegasus and the Hippocrene stream, both of which are associated in classical mythology with Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon, rather than Parnassus. The coat of arms suspended from the tree has not been identified.
C596|1|1|During the Medieval period the city of Limoges was the one of the most important centres in Western Europe for the large-scale production of metalwork in copper. Objects were cast in moulds, then chased, engraved and sometimes enamelled. Limoges copper-gilt metalwork was widely exported throughout Europe. This relief, which is notable for the exceptionally elaborate chasing of the garments of the six figures, was probably originally attached either to the front of an altar or, possibly, to the side of a reliquary casket or chasse (reliquary or shrine).