Italian, Faenza, circa 1505-1520

Emile Molinier, Paris (Catalogue des objects d’art et de haute curiosité…, Paris, Mannhein, 21-28 June 1906, probably part of the lots from n. 124 to 136 or no. 73.);

Emil Weinberger, Wien (Versteigerung der Hinterlassenen Sammlung des Herrn Emil Weinberg Wien, Vienne, C. J. Wawra, 22-24 October 1929, n. 44, pl. 4; signalling the provenance ‘Emile Molinier’);

Jacques de Mons (Artcurial, Paris, 19 November 2010, no. 122).

J. Chompret, Répertoire de la Majolique Italienne, Paris, Les Éditions Nomis, 1949, II, p. 10, fig. 72;

C. Leprince and J. Raccanello, Feu et Talent II, Paris, 2012, pp. 69-71.

The present maiolica plate belongs to a group of similar dishes characterized by a dynamic and vibrant interpretation of grotesque decoration and a rich blue ground, all of which were probably executed in the same Faenza workshop and by the same hand. While each plate varies slightly in design, each is centred by a sphynx-like figure, and it has been suggested that the group may have been conceived as a single service. Typical of Faenza, these plates were painted on the back of the dish with a decoration called ‘a calza’, composed of concentric rings in blue and orange, which fell out of favor by 1520.

Other comparable plates are in the Wallace Collection, London; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (fig. 1); the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon (fig. 2); a private collection; and two plates in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza.

RELATED LITERATURE

T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Maiolica Painting, Catalogue of a Private Collection, Torino, 2019; C. Ravanelli Guidotti, Thesaurus, Faenza, 1998, fig. 65, p. 295.

We are grateful to Professor Timothy Wilson and Mrs. Greta Kaucher for their invaluable contributions to the research on this entry.