Maiolica dish, with the Muses and the Pierides

An image of Dish. Maiolica. The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides. Durantino, Guido, workshop (Italian, act.1520-1576). Gatti, Camillo, painter, attributed (Italian, d.1567). Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo), after (Italian, 1494-1540). Caraglio, Giovanni Giacomo, printmaker, after. Shape 64. Circular with narrow rim, and wide, shallow well. The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides. The nine daughters of Pierus stand on the right separated by a stream from the Muses, led by Callipte who holds a harp. Above, a group of nymphs, gods and goddesses, including Apollo and Minerva, serve as judges. In the landscape background there are stunted trees on hills, and on the right, a coastline with buildings and distant mountains. The edge is yellow. The back is inscribed in the middle in blue, 'Ausae Cum Musjs Committere proelja/Voce Victae nunc Volitant jmmitantes/omnia pjcae/Fatto jn Urbino in Botega de Mo (o raised)/Guido da Casteldurante' (Having dared to have contests with the Muses and defeated by voice, they now fly away as magpies imitating everything). Single yellow bands encircle the junction of the rim and well, and the outer edge. Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed on both sides; the glaze on the reverse is pale beige and speckled. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, beige, brown, manganese, black, and a little white high-lighting. Height, whole, 5.2 cm, diameter, whole, 46 cm, circa 1545-1550. Renaissance. Notes: The source of the design was an engraving by G.G. Caraglio after The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides by Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), probably the painting now in the Louvre in Paris. The inscription on the back of the dish was taken from the bottom of the print where it appears in capitals, AUSAE CUM MUSIS COMMITTERE PROELIA VOCE VICTAE NUNC VOLITANT IMMITANTES OMNIA PICAE. This was a popular subject on maiolica but few pieces decorated with the whole scene have survived.

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Dish. Maiolica. The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides. Durantino, Guido, workshop (Italian, act.1520-1576). Gatti, Camillo, painter, attributed (Italian, d.1567). Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo), after (Italian, 1494-1540). Caraglio, Giovanni Giacomo, printmaker, after. Shape 64. Circular with narrow rim, and wide, shallow well. The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides. The nine daughters of Pierus stand on the right separated by a stream from the Muses, led by Callipte who holds a harp. Above, a group of nymphs, gods and goddesses, including Apollo and Minerva, serve as judges. In the landscape background there are stunted trees on hills, and on the right, a coastline with buildings and distant mountains. The edge is yellow. The back is inscribed in the middle in blue, 'Ausae Cum Musjs Committere proelja/Voce Victae nunc Volitant jmmitantes/omnia pjcae/Fatto jn Urbino in Botega de Mo (o raised)/Guido da Casteldurante' (Having dared to have contests with the Muses and defeated by voice, they now fly away as magpies imitating everything). Single yellow bands encircle the junction of the rim and well, and the outer edge. Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed on both sides; the glaze on the reverse is pale beige and speckled. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, beige, brown, manganese, black, and a little white high-lighting. Height, whole, 5.2 cm, diameter, whole, 46 cm, circa 1545-1550. Renaissance. Notes: The source of the design was an engraving by G.G. Caraglio after The Contest between the Muses and the Pierides by Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), probably the painting now in the Louvre in Paris. The inscription on the back of the dish was taken from the bottom of the print where it appears in capitals, AUSAE CUM MUSIS COMMITTERE PROELIA VOCE VICTAE NUNC VOLITANT IMMITANTES OMNIA PICAE. This was a popular subject on maiolica but few pieces decorated with the whole scene have survived.

Image data

Accession Number: EC.35-1942
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H3DII-31
Photographer name: Katie Young
Image height: 916 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 218.70kB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1

Key words

16th Century Apollo Callipte Camillo Gatti Caraglio competition contest daughters dish Durantino earthenware female female nude Giovanni Battista di Jacopo Giovanni Giacomo Caraglio glazed goddess gods Guido Durantino Il Rosso Italian judge judgement Late Renaissance maiolica male nude metamorphoses Minerva Muses mythological mythology nude nymphs Ovid Phoebus Pierides Pierus (King of Emathia) polychrome Renaissance Rosso Fiorentino round stream tin-glazed woman women

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024)
            "Maiolica dish, with the Muses and the Pierides"
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