Workshop of the Fontana Family, Possibly Painted by Camillo Gatti (d. 1567), Italian, Urbino, circa 1560-62

Property from a Swiss Private Collection

Workshop of the Fontana Family, Possibly Painted by Camillo Gatti (d. 1567)

Italian, Urbino, circa 1560-62

Istoriato Dish

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

diameter: 17 ½ in.; 44.5 cm.

inscribed on the reverse: AI popolo Romano Largo / Convito (A generous feast for the Roman people)

round dish painted with a sumptuous banquet in a public square surrounded by architectural monuments, columns, churches, bell towers, turrets; two male figures in the foreground on the left, one placing a large, woven bread basket on the ground and the other pouring wine into an amphora; a stepped credenza or sideboard with maiolica and metal dishes in the background on the right; the border painted with a frieze of grottesche interspersed with four medallions representing a river god, Orpheus, Muscius Scævola and Marcus Curtius.