Lot 13
ITALIAN MAIOLICA APOTHECARY JAR
FAENZA, CIRCA 1555
Auction: 26 June 2013 at 12:00 BST
Description
the globular body with a narrow short flaring rim painted in blue, yellow orange, green, brown and purple, in the upper centre a circular medallion with the profile of a bearded male on a yellow ground with the inscription 'SALAMONO' on a ribbon behind, the inscription 'ELL ELESCOPH :' (elettuario elescoph - The Bishop's electuary, a purgative electuary) on a scrolling and unfurled banner on a ground of compartmentalised decoration, a quartieri, infilled with scrolling foliage on a dark blue, dark green or ochre ground, a narrow band of short vertical lines with wreath leaves outlined on top just above the foot edge; the base with three letters (?RZZ) and a mark incised after firing, probably a reference to the weight of the jar when empty, or its capacity, price or contents
Dimensions
24cm diam, 19cm high
Footnote
Provenance:
Property of a Gentleman of Title
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:
See lot 12 for similar shape but different and later ground decoration. For an inscribed piece (as made in Faenza) with similar decoration but a different shape see the ovoid jar with a neck in the Louvre, J. Giacomotti, Catalogue des Majoliques de Musees Nationaux, Paris, 1974, cat. 960 p.313
See R.E. A. Drey, Apothecary Jars, London, 1978, p.200 for reference to the contents.
Similar Venetian jar in the William A. Clark collection see Wendy Watson, Italian Renaissance Maiolica from the William A. Clark collection, cat. 69, p. 172. 1986