Italian, Urbino, circa 1535-50

Sotheby’s London, 10 May 1962, lot 30. 

This tazza depicts the story of Apollo and Daphne, as recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses I. On the left, Daphne flees from Apollo. As he pursues her, Daphne’s arms and hair are already turning into the branches of a laurel tree. In the foreground, Daphne’s father, the river god Peneus, reclines; a stream flows from the vase he holds under his left arm. In the sky, Cupid aims his bow at Daphne. The background is composed of a mountainous landscape and a city in the distance. 

Comparable dishes with similar figures outlined with black, clouds and flora are attributed to Pesaro.¹

¹ P. Bonali and R. Gresta, Girolamo et Giacomo Lanfranco dalle Gabicce: Maiolicari a Pesaro net Secolo XVI, Rimini, 1987