A Gubbio maiolica lustred footed dish, workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli dish 1530

finely painted and lustred in copper and gold with St.John the Evangelist as an apostle, standing in a domed and curtained niche accompanied by an eagle, with a poisoned chalice in his raised left hand, and a bible in his right (some restoration)

(perhaps) Baron Gustav Rothschild ; see the catalogue of the sale at  Drouot, Etude Couturier-Nicolay, 17th June 1994, lot 104

broken in half horizontally and restored; also chips filled and repainted at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock , two larger pieces, 3cm. and 7cm., broken and restored at eight o'clock, several rim hair cracks
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The painter is influenced by Nicola da Urbino, and it is this small class of pieces, much finer in the painting than most Gubbio maiolica, which gave rise to the notion that some of the best pieces of Gubbio maiolica  were painted at Casteldurante or at Urbino, then transported over the mountains to Gubbio for the addition of the lustre work for which Maestro Giorgio was celebrated. It is now thought more likely that some painters simply spent short preriods painting at Gubbio.

For related dishes with full-length portraits of single saints, see B. Rackham's Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, nos. 682-684; another dish with the same subject as the present piece is in the Ashmolean Museum; and another, in the Museum at Pesaro, is attributed to Nicola himself; see Maiolica umbre decorate a lustro, Spoleto 1982, no.52 p.128

The hand of the lustre painter seems to be the same as that on a similarly-inscribed Gubbio 'bella donna' dish in the British Museum, also of 1530, from a small group of these dishes traditionally but apocryphally attributed to Nicola; see D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics; A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, vol. II, item 318, p.518