Italian, Urbino, circa 1525-40

Collection of Dr. Giuseppe Caruso;

Sotheby’s London, 20 March 1973, lot 33. 

Depicting a voluptuous woman with golden plaited hair, this plate can be read as a part of the aesthetic tradition of Bella Donna dishes. Believed to have been used as gifts from suitors to their objects of affection, the present work deviates from convention by depicting the woman scantily clad, rather than the more conventional, clothed portrait of a lady.

For a discussion of this type and related pleates, see Haussman, Fioritura: Blütezeiten der Majolika. Eine Berliner Sammlung, Berlin, 2002, nos. 57 and 58.