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Probably Faenza or Venice 16th Century

Plate with border of grotesques on an orange ground and three shields of the arms of the Gritti of Venice; in the center, putti holding another shield of the same arms, probably c. 1510/1525

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G10

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 24.5 cm (9 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.314

Artists / Makers

Faenza 16th Century (ceramist) Central Italian

Venetian 16th Century (ceramist)

Image Use

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Marks and Labels

Kann collection labels 5, 202

Provenance

Frédéric Spitzer [1815-1890], Paris; (his estate sale, at his residence by Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris, 17 April-16 June 1893, no. 1052, as Gaenza [Casa Pirota], sold for 7000 francs). Maurice Kann [1839-1906], Paris, by 1896;[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;[2] inheritance from the Estate of Peter A B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

[1] Fortnum 1896: "Marks," 96, no. 307 (mentioned and attributed to Faenza).

[2] Widener collection records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kann, Maurice
Spitzer, Frédéric, Baron
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. 5.

Technical Summary

Earthenware, covered front and back with a pinkish white tin glaze. The
painting is in blue, orange, yellow, pale green, and white. There are three
kiln-spur marks on the edge of the central roundel. The glaze is cracked on the
back. A crack from the edge between nine and ten o'clock to the center has been
repaired and overpainted. There are some rim chips.

Bibliography

1892: Molinier 1892, 4: no. 17, pl. 6, as Faenza (Casa Pirota), c. 1520.

1896: Fortnum 1896, "Marks," 96, no. 307 (mentioned and attributed to Faenza).

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 53, as Siena (Maestro Benedetto?), c. 1510.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 12, as Siena (Maestro Benedetto?), about 1510.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 117, no. 3, as Faenza, c. 1520.

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: 126-128, repro. 127.