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拍品专文
The inscription Pr[e]cipitai qua drento, co[n] me fama (?), / Sapendo Certo la morte aquistar[e] / per liberar mia sco[n]solata Roma translates as ‘I threw myself in here, and fame with me, knowing that I would certainly gain death to free my disconsolate Rome’. It is very unusual for an inscription to be written as if spoken by a scene’s subject, and presumably the present text was provided by a scholar, perhaps in the employ of the Duke of Urbino.
The scene illustrates a legend of Roman heroism which took place after the earthquake of 362 BC. A chasm opened up in the Forum in Rome and the Romans attempted to fill it in. When this did not succeed, they consulted a priest who told them that the gods demanded Rome’s most precious possession. A young soldier, Marcus Curtius, declared that Roman courage and arms were the country’s most important asset, and leapt into the chasm on his horse. According to the legend, the chasm closed up behind him, saving Rome.
For a lustred dish, also dated 1539, with an istoriato scene which may be related, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 286-287, no. 903, where it is attributed to Urbino, lustred at Gubbio.
The scene illustrates a legend of Roman heroism which took place after the earthquake of 362 BC. A chasm opened up in the Forum in Rome and the Romans attempted to fill it in. When this did not succeed, they consulted a priest who told them that the gods demanded Rome’s most precious possession. A young soldier, Marcus Curtius, declared that Roman courage and arms were the country’s most important asset, and leapt into the chasm on his horse. According to the legend, the chasm closed up behind him, saving Rome.
For a lustred dish, also dated 1539, with an istoriato scene which may be related, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 286-287, no. 903, where it is attributed to Urbino, lustred at Gubbio.