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Lot Essay
The print used as the source of the decoration is one of Marcantonio Raimondi’s most famous engravings, The Judgement of Paris, of circa 1515-1520 after a drawing by Raphael. The engraving, broadly popular among maiolicari at this time, depicts the moment Paris decides to award the golden apple to Venus, which, according to the legend, sets in motion the series of events that culminate in the Trojan War(1).
The decoration bears a strong similarity to the work of the ‘In Castel Durante Painter’(2) , but appears to be by a different hand. The piece closest to the present lot is a 1525 charger in Stockholm, painted by the ‘In Castel Durante’ painter with the Triumph of Galatea(3). The Stockholm charger has a large istoriato scene enclosed by a band of bianco sopra bianco at the well, and a blue-ground border similarly reserved with grotesques.
1. In the story of The Judgment of Paris, Eris, the goddess of strife, threw down a golden apple inscribed ‘To the fairest’, for which Venus, Minerva and Juno competed. Jupiter declined to decide between the three goddesses, and ordered Mercury to bring them to Paris so that he could decide. The three each attempted to bribe Paris in order to win, and when Venus promised him the love of any woman he wanted, mentioning Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, Paris chose Venus. Paris’ subsequent abduction of Helen led the Greeks to launch an attack on Troy.
2. This painter’s istoriato works are sometimes inscribed ‘In Castel Durante’ on the reverse (usually in yellow). The anonymous painter was given a name by John Mallet, see J.V.G. Mallet, ‘Maiolica at Polesden Lacey’, part 2, Apollo, no. 92, 1970, pp. 341-342. Dated pieces by this artist span a period of only three years, from 1524 to 1526. For one of these pieces, dated 1526, see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. I, pp. 251-253, no. 152.
3. Circa 1525 and in the Nationalmuseum (NM 228/1921). See Helena Dahlbäck Lutteman, Majolika från Urbino, och andra orter i Italien, Stockholm, Borås, 1981, p. 69, fig. 41. Borders reserved with grotesques around large istoriato scenes are unusual. A large istoriato dish in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, which is attributed to Nicola da Urbino, has a blue-ground border with grotesques, see Timothy Wilson, Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance, London, 1987, pp. 45-46, no. 50; and an istoriato dish in the Victoria & Albert Museum with a blue-ground border with grotesques (attributed to Giulio da Urbino) is illustrated by J.V.G. Mallet, International Conference at Rovigo on 3-4 May 1980, ‘Xanto: i suoi compagni e seguaci’, in Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, 1988, p. 103, fig. 21.
This lot is sold with a Thermoluminescence Test certificate from Oxford Authentication (January 2023) with an estimated date of firing between 300 and 500 years ago.
The decoration bears a strong similarity to the work of the ‘In Castel Durante Painter’(2) , but appears to be by a different hand. The piece closest to the present lot is a 1525 charger in Stockholm, painted by the ‘In Castel Durante’ painter with the Triumph of Galatea(3). The Stockholm charger has a large istoriato scene enclosed by a band of bianco sopra bianco at the well, and a blue-ground border similarly reserved with grotesques.
1. In the story of The Judgment of Paris, Eris, the goddess of strife, threw down a golden apple inscribed ‘To the fairest’, for which Venus, Minerva and Juno competed. Jupiter declined to decide between the three goddesses, and ordered Mercury to bring them to Paris so that he could decide. The three each attempted to bribe Paris in order to win, and when Venus promised him the love of any woman he wanted, mentioning Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, Paris chose Venus. Paris’ subsequent abduction of Helen led the Greeks to launch an attack on Troy.
2. This painter’s istoriato works are sometimes inscribed ‘In Castel Durante’ on the reverse (usually in yellow). The anonymous painter was given a name by John Mallet, see J.V.G. Mallet, ‘Maiolica at Polesden Lacey’, part 2, Apollo, no. 92, 1970, pp. 341-342. Dated pieces by this artist span a period of only three years, from 1524 to 1526. For one of these pieces, dated 1526, see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. I, pp. 251-253, no. 152.
3. Circa 1525 and in the Nationalmuseum (NM 228/1921). See Helena Dahlbäck Lutteman, Majolika från Urbino, och andra orter i Italien, Stockholm, Borås, 1981, p. 69, fig. 41. Borders reserved with grotesques around large istoriato scenes are unusual. A large istoriato dish in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, which is attributed to Nicola da Urbino, has a blue-ground border with grotesques, see Timothy Wilson, Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance, London, 1987, pp. 45-46, no. 50; and an istoriato dish in the Victoria & Albert Museum with a blue-ground border with grotesques (attributed to Giulio da Urbino) is illustrated by J.V.G. Mallet, International Conference at Rovigo on 3-4 May 1980, ‘Xanto: i suoi compagni e seguaci’, in Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, 1988, p. 103, fig. 21.
This lot is sold with a Thermoluminescence Test certificate from Oxford Authentication (January 2023) with an estimated date of firing between 300 and 500 years ago.