Description
the squat bulbous body with a domed cover and pointed knop, painted in blue, yellow, brown, black, and green in the centre within a panel an oval panel of the female figure of Fortune standing on a sea monster holding a billowing sail aloft, all on a dark blue ground of musical and armorial trophies; bearing the inscription below '.P.D.BDELIO.'
Dimensions
13cm diam, 6cm high; 15cm high with cover
Footnote
Provenance:
In the collection of the family of the present owners since the late 19th / early 20th century. Entries in the family archives suggest that maiolica was acquired between 1894 and 1916 from three different sources: from G. Donaldson in 1894 (with two items bought from the Spitzer Collection) in 1896 and in 1897; from H.A. Peto in 1899 and from S.M. Crossley in 1908 and in November 1916.
Note:
For two identical pill pots dated 1580 and covers (but with broken finials) most probably made for the same series see G.C.Bojani, ed. Gaetano Ballardini e la ceramica a Roma: Le maioliche del Museo Artistico Industriale, Florence, Centro Di, 2000, cats 38-9, see also lots 7-8 of this catalogue. See W. Watson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics - The Howard I. and Janet H. Stein Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2001, p.209, cats 80 A and B for an overall discussion of this series decorated with the female figure of Fortune and its attribution. See R.E.A. Drey, Apothecary Jars, London, 1978, p.189 for reference to the contents.