National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Flask
  • Inscription
  • Marks and Labels
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

beneath foot: a dome and .F.

Marks and Labels

Formerly a Pierpont Morgan inventory number painted on underside: PM 3134

Provenance

"Casa Murata," Florence. (Pacini, Florence). (Stanislas Baron, Paris), by 1882. Alfred André, Paris. Léon André, Paris; J. Pierpont Morgan, London and New York, 1905.[1] After Morgan's death, 1913, to (Duveen Brothers); purchased 23 November 1917 by Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[2] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, after purchase by funds of the Estate; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] The early provenance is as given by Davillier, Jean Charles, Les origines de la porcelaine en Europe, Paris and London, 1882. Despite the generous efforts of Professor Marco Spallanzani in Florence libraries, no information on the "Casa Murata" has been traced. Linda Horvitz Roth provided the details of the 1905 sale invoice to Pierpont Morgan, which is in the archives of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Alfred André was a goldsmith, enamelist, and restorer of Medieval and Renaissance objets d'art, who studied and reactivated old enameling methods. He had workshops for various decorative arts techniques in a wing of his Paris home, working with other goldsmiths, hardstone carvers and ceramists. André transferred half of the business to his son Léon in 1905, after the latter's marriage. This is likely how Léon acquired the flask and sold it to Morgan the same year. Léon André took complete control of the shop in 1907.

[2] A note in NGA curatorial files states that the flask was found unrecognized among Pierpont Morgan's Chinese porcelain at Duveen's by Joseph Widener and acquired at low cost. Edith Standen, who was curator at Lynnewood Hall before the Widener collection was given to the National Gallery and has kindly responded to inquiries about the history of the collection, was unable to confirm this story. It must be regarded as improbable that Duveen's would have failed to recognize a marked piece of Medici porcelain, but it is true that Widener paid a surprisingly low price for the flask.

Exhibition History

1914
Possibly Loan Exhibiton of the Pierpont Morgan Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1914.
1980
Palazzo Vecchio: comittenza e collezionismo medicei, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1980, 403.
1998
A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, not in cat.
2002
Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence (in Italy, L'ombra del genio: Michelangelo e l'arte Firenze, 1537-1631), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; Art Inst. of Chicago; Detroit Inst. of Arts, 2002-2003, no. 102.

Bibliography

1882
Davillier, Jean Charles. Les origines de la porcelaine en Europe. Paris and London, 1882: 116-117, no. 32, repro.
1908
Ricci, Seymour de. "La porcelaine des Medicis." Faenza (1908-1918): 31, no. 41.
1914
Grollier, Charles de. Manuel de l'amateur de porcelaines. 2 vols. Paris, 1914: 1:364, no. 2314.
1914
Possibly Loan Exhibition of the Pierpont Morgan Collection. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1914.
1935
Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 69.
1936
Liverani, Giuseppe. Catalogo delle porcellane dei Medici. Piccola Biblioteca del Museo delle Ceramiche in Faenza, 2. Faenza, 1936: 37, no. 52.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 14, as Medici Ware, Small ewer.
1959
Liverani, Giuseppe. "Ampliamenti al catalogo delle porcellane medicee." Faenza 45 (1959): 10.
1980
Palazzo Vecchio: comittenza e collezionismo medicei. Exh. cat. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1980: 403.
1983
Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 174, repro.
1986
Cora, Galeazzo, and Angiolo Fanfani. La porcellana dei Medici. Milan, 1986: 86-87, repro.
1988
Le Corbeiller, Clare. "A Medici Porcelain Pilgrim Flask." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 16 (1988): 125, fig. 9, as c. 1582-1585.
1990
Spallanzani, Marco. "Medici porcelain in the collection of the last grand-duke." The Burlington Magazine 132 (1990): 316-320.
1993
Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 238-241, color repro. 239.
2000
National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000:62.

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