Dish: EC.30-1938

Titles

• Dish from the Isabella d'Este Service

Maiolica dish, painted in polychrome with, in the well, the arms of Gonzaga impaling Este, and, on the rim, Peleus and Thetis.

Earthenware, tin-glazed overall; the reverse pale beige and speckled. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, stone, brown, manganese-purple, black, and white. Shape 56 (Poole 1995). circular with broad, almost flat rim, and deep well; the underside of the rim moulded with three bands of reeding.In the well, within narrow blue and yellow concentric circles, two putti support a shield charged with the arms of Gonzaga impaling Este: argent, a cross patty gules cantoned by four eagles displayed sable (Gonzaga modern granted 1433), an escutcheon overall, quarterly, 1, 4, gules a lion rampant argent (Bohemia), 2, 3, barry of six or and sable (Gonzaga ancient) impaling Este, quarterly, 1, 4, azure three fleurs-de-lis or a bordure indented gules, 2, 3, azure an eagle displayed argent (gules shown orange throughout). Below on a scroll is the impresa `XXVII'. The sides are decorated in bianco sopra bianco with palmettes and scrolls, and a blue line encircles the shoulder. The rim is decorated with Peleus and Thetis. Peleus stands beneath a tree, gazing at Thetis, who sleeps nude on the ground in front of him. Further to the right she is transformed into a swan-like bird as he embraces her, and then into a dragon from which he turns away in horror. Higher up on the right, a goddess appears to Peleus who kneels before an altar. In the distance there is a mountainous landscape and sky. Suspended from the tree there is a shield of testa di cavallo form charged with the impresa of gold rods in a crucible surrounded by flames in a blue ground. The edge is yellow. On the back there is a narrow yellow band round the base and a wider band on the edge.

A member of the Rothschild family, Paris; Charles Damiron, Lyon; Sotheby's, 16 June 1938, Catalogue of the very choice collection of old Italian maiolica and Hispano-Moresque ware the property of Monsieur Damiron, 8 vue Vaubecour, Lyons, p. 63, lot 63.

Named entities

• Dish

Legal notes

Purchased with the Glaisher fund

Acquisition and important dates

• Method of acquisition: Bought
• Dates: 1938

Dating

• 16th century
• Renaissance
Circa 1524 CE - 1525 CE

Maker(s)

• Nicola di Gabriele Sbraghe da Urbino
Painter

Note

The figures were derived from a woodcut illustration in Giovanni dei Bonsignori's Ovidio methamorphoseos vulgare, Venice (Giovanni Rosso da Vercelli for Lucantonio Giunta), 1497 or a later edition.

Place(s) associated

• Urbino ⪼ The Marches ⪼ Italy

Measurements and weight

• Height: 3.9 cm

Agents depicted

• Este, Isabella d'
• Damiron, Charles
• Peleus
• Thetis

Subjects depicted

• Coat-of-arms
• Impresa
• Peleus and Thetis

Components of the work

• Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( metallic oxide colours)
• Rim measuring: Diameter by cm by 30.2

Materials used in production

• Tin-glaze
• Earthenware

Techniques used in production

• Throwing : Earthenware, tin-glazed overall; the reverse pale beige and speckled. Painted in blue, green, yellow, orange, stone, brown, manganese-purple, black, and white high-temperature (metallic oxide) colours
• Tin-glazing
• Turning

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: Rectangular with cut corners, printed in black `UNION/CENTRALE' and inscribed in faded black ink with `155/3657' between the two words

• Text: 'UNION/1555/3657/CENTRALE'
• Location: On the back
• Method of creation: Printed in black and inscribed in faded black ink
• Type: Label

Associated department: Applied Arts

References and bibliographic entries

• The Damiron Collection of Italian Maiolica II page(s): 256
• Ancora nuovi piatti del servizio d'Isabella d'Este-Gonzaga page(s): 92
• Répertoire de la majolique italienne page(s): 16
• Enquête sur le sujet des majoliques page(s): 20
• Italian Maiolica page(s): 23
• The Concise Encyclopedia of Continental Pottery and Porcelain
• A Maiolica Service for Isabella d'Este page(s): 67-8
• Splendours of the Gonzaga page(s): 177-8
• Xanto and Ariosto page(s): 247
• Art on the Table page(s): 72
• Le maioliche italiane del Fitzwilliam in mostra page(s): 16
• Ceramiche italiane a Cambridge/Italian Pottery in Cambridge page(s): 14
• Potted History page(s): 46
• Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge page(s): 304-7
• Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks, Italian Maiolica page(s): 58-9
• Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum page(s): 135
• Earth and Fire page(s): 28
• Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
• Ovid in Six Volumes IV Metamorphoses with an English translation by Frank Justus Miller, II, Books IX-XV page(s): 134-9
• Ovidio methamorphoseos vulgare
• The Gonzaga Devices page(s): 65-6
• Nicolò Pellipario: ceramista fantasma page(s): 13-20
• 500 Ans Arts Décoratifs Européens page(s): 24-26
• Italian Renaissance Maiolica page(s): 124
• Italian Maiolica in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria page(s): 82-7
• The Golden Age of Maiolica-Painting page(s): 180-3

Related exhibitions

• Splendours of the Gonzaga
• Italian Maiolica in the Fitzwilliam Museum
• Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

Identification numbers

• Accession number: EC.30-1938
• Primary reference Number: 47188
• Stable URI

Audit data

• Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
• Updated: Tuesday 16 March 2021
• Last processed: Thursday 8 April 2021
• Data source: Adlib

Associated institutions

• The Fitzwilliam Museum