An Urbino maiolica istoriato plate, Circa 1565, probably the workshop of Orazio Fontana

"Italian majolica plate with arabesques & Cupid border", Drawing room, Feathercombe according to paper label.

A dish painted by a very close hand to the present plate with the same subject is in the collection at Burghley House, Northamptonshire, see Gordon Lang et al, European Ceramics at Burghley House, 1991, p. 4, cat. no. 3.  Both use the an engraving by Bernard Salomon illustrating Genesis Chapter XVI.  Salomon was a popular source with pottery painters across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries and produced many illustrations for the Old and New Testaments.  Salomon's illustrations were used by Claude Paradin, Quadrins historiques de la Bible, published in 1553; subsequent editions in Latin, French, Italian and German and their use in emblemata meant that the carefully drawn and detailed scenes were widely disseminated across Europe.  The painter of the present plate may have used the Italian edition,  Figure del Vecchio Testamento, con versi toscani, per Damian Marassi nuovamente composti, illustrate, as a graphic source.  The scene is rearranged and simplified placing Abram at the centre of the composition.  The figures in the middle distance may represent Abram, his wife Sarai and her servant Hagar. 

The anonymous painter of the present dish is sometimes identified as the "Painter of the Conversion of Saint Paul Dish", see Raccanello, J. (translated by Leprince, C.), "Les majoliques du Cinquecento ou l'apogée do décor a istoriato", exhibition catalogue, "Feu et Talent - D'Urbino à Nevers, le décor historié aux XVIe at XVIIe siècles", 2013, no. 3, pp. 16-17 where the author discussed the small group of items including the Burghley House example and a group in the Civic Museum, Pesaro.  A further example by the same hand is in the August Kestner Museum, Hannover.