Maiolica inkstand with a river god

An image of Maiolica. Inkstand with drawer. Patanazzi family, workshop, probably (Italian, 16th-17th cs), The Marches, Urbino. Rectangular with projecting mouldings at the top and bottom, and a drawer at the front. A slightly raised platform on the top supports a river god who reclines with his left elbow resting on an urn with water flowing from it. Behind him to the left there is a clump of reeds and on the front left corner, a vase for ink. The river god, reeds and water are coloured naturalistically. The sides are decorated with grotesques in narrow panels framed by yellow and orange, and blue and white, borders. The inkwell is spattered to resemble coloured marble, and the urn is streaked in yellow and orange. Earthenware, tin-glazed overall except for the edge of the base. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, manganese-purple, black, and white, height, whole, 21.0 cm, width, whole, 22.1 cm, depth, whole, 17.8 cm, circa 1575-1605. Renaissance.

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Maiolica. Inkstand with drawer. Patanazzi family, workshop, probably (Italian, 16th-17th cs), The Marches, Urbino. Rectangular with projecting mouldings at the top and bottom, and a drawer at the front. A slightly raised platform on the top supports a river god who reclines with his left elbow resting on an urn with water flowing from it. Behind him to the left there is a clump of reeds and on the front left corner, a vase for ink. The river god, reeds and water are coloured naturalistically. The sides are decorated with grotesques in narrow panels framed by yellow and orange, and blue and white, borders. The inkwell is spattered to resemble coloured marble, and the urn is streaked in yellow and orange. Earthenware, tin-glazed overall except for the edge of the base. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, manganese-purple, black, and white, height, whole, 21.0 cm, width, whole, 22.1 cm, depth, whole, 17.8 cm, circa 1575-1605. Renaissance.

Image data

Accession Number: C.229 & A-1991
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H3DII-31
Photographer name: Jaymes Sinclair
Image height: 1023 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Macintosh)
Filesize: 258.52kB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1

Key words

16th Century 17th Century Artistic Movement Date Department Fitz_AA Italian Late Renaissance Material Medium Nationalities Object Type Other Keywords Predominant Colours Renaissance Workflow _WF_AdOK _WF_KWD _WF_OPACtd _WF_PCtd box drawers earthenware glazed gods grotesque inkstand inkwell lying lying down maiolica male male nude mythological mythology nude orange painted reclining recumbent reeds river god seated sitting tin-glazed

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Maiolica inkstand with a river god "
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