A pair of Italian maiolica armorial albarelli, Castel Durante, workshop of Angelo and Ludovico Picchi, circa 1562-1563

These albarelli are part of a well-documented pharmacy commission of the sixteenth century. The order was placed in 1562 with potters in Castel Durante by a Genoese merchant, Andrea Boerio, who lived in Palermo in Sicily. Boerio ordered, in two successive contracts, several hundred albarelli and other storage jars, carefully specifying the forms, sizes, and decoration; some were to be istoriato and some with trofei (trophies). Unhappily for the potters, the brothers Ludovico and Angelo Picchi failed to deliver all these jars on time; they were taken to the Duke of Urbino's court by Boerio and forced to pay damages. 

Over fifty jars survive, bearing, like this pair, the arms of Boerio. Of the known examples, one is dated 1562 and two are dated 1563. The Picchi brothers were the sons of the Castel Durante potter Giorgio Picchi, who had died by 1535. Their workshop became one of the most productive in the town and may have employed several painters.  

Surviving examples from this commission include one in the collections of the Musei Civici of Pesaro, no. 4387; another, with trophies, previously in the Campana Collection, is now in the Louvre (inv. OA 1893) and is illustrated by Jeanne Giacomotti, Catalogue des majoliques des musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, p. 241, fig. 793. A pair of albarelli from this pharmacy commission was sold at Sotheby's London, 31 May 2021, lot 59 and a large footed jar was sold at Bonhams London, 22 July 2020, lot 28.