Large dish with plant-pattern border; in the center, the arms of a Medici pope, 1513 or later - probably not after 1534

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 16

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 41.6 cm (16 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.319

Artists / Makers

Deruta 16th Century (ceramist)

Image Use

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Marks and Labels

Kann collection labels 31, 205

Provenance

Maurice Kann [1839-1906], Paris;[1] purchased 1908 with the entire Kann collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased February 1910 by Peter A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

[1] It is possible that this is the plate from the Castellani collection, described in the sale catalogue (Paris, 27-29 May 1878, no. 145) as 42 cm. in diameter and as having "au centre, large écusson portant les armes du pape Léon X et deux cornes d'abondance. Au marli palmettes et ornements varié. (Pesaro.);" however, the description of the border of the Castellani piece in Catalogue of the Castellani Collection in the Loan Exhibition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1877), no. 2, "Maiolica &c," no. 145, as "scale decoration and flowers" does not seem to correspond to the National Gallery piece.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kann, Maurice
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1982: Sixteenth-Century Italian Maiolica; Selections from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection and the National Gallery of Art's Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1982-1983, no. 19.

Technical Summary

Earthenware, covered on the front and edge with a white tin glaze and on the back with an even yellowish semitranslucent glaze overlying streaks of tin glaze. Concentric turning marks are visible on the back. The painting is in blue (which has bubbled slightly) and, to represent red in the arms, a streaky red- brown, with yellowish golden luster. In the foot ring are two holes for suspension, made before firing, placed so that the dish hangs correctly from them. On the back, on the curving sides of the well, are two kiln scars. The dish has been cracked and repaired from eight o'clock toward the center and through the rim at two o'clock; bands of overpaint run over these repairs. There is extensive wear and chipping on the outer and inner edges of the rim.

Bibliography

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 55, as Deruta, c. 1520.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 12, as Deruta, about 1520.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 124, no. 3, as Deruta 1513/1534.

1989: Rasmussen Jörg. The Robert Lehman Collection, 10. Italian Majolica. New York and Princeton, 1989: 64.

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: 142-143, repro. 142.