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拍品专文
The subject is derived from the central part of a drawing by Battista Franco depicting an episode from the History of Troy(1). Vasari describes how Guidubaldo II, Duke of Urbino, had employed Franco to produce a series of Trojan War designs for maiolicari to use in their production, and it is thought that Franco came to Urbino to work for the duke intermittently between 1545 and 1551(2). He produced designs illustrating various subjects, but the largest number to survive are for a History of Troy service. Services decorated with Franco’s designs were sent to Emperor Charles V and Cardinal Farnese.
A plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, is probably from the ‘first service’(3). Franco’s drawings remained in use by local maiolica workshops, and the author of this charger would have worked from a copy of the drawing(4).
The present charger appears to be by a prolific anonymous painter dubbed the ‘Painter of the Conversion of Saul’, whose works have been attributed to various production centers including Urbino, Pesaro, Castel Durante, Rimini and Lyon in France(5). None of the group assembled so far includes an inscription with a place of manufacture. As the painter could have moved between different centers, it is difficult to be certain if this charger was painted in the Duchy of Urbino or beyond. For a footed dish in the Musée du Louvre painted with Guidon Selvaggio, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 291-292, no. 911, where it is attributed to Rimini, and for a bowl in a private collection painted with Tobias, the Angel, and the Fish, see Timothy Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting, Turin, 2018, pp. 336-337, no. 146, where it is attributed to Urbino district or possibly Rimini.
1. The drawing is in the British Museum, inv. no. 1946-713-350. Also see J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum; Artists working in Rome c. 1550 - c. 1640, London, 1983, no. 152.
2. See Timothy Clifford and J.V.G. Mallet, ‘Battista Franco as a Designer for Maiolica’, Burlington Magazine, no. 879, June 1976, pp. 307-410, and Johanna Lessman, ‘Battista Franco Disegnatore di Maioliche’ in Faenza, No. 2, 1976, pp. 27-30.
3. Clifford and Mallet, ibid., 1976, fig. 47 and p. 404. The authors identify the ‘first service’ as fine pieces, their borders with putti and trophies, their reverses with inscriptions in blue capital letters, see p. 395.
4. Cf. Ravanelli Guidotti, ‘Battista Franco disegnatore per la maiolica’, in M. G. C. D. Dal Poggetto & P. Dal Poggetto (eds.), Urbino e le Marche prima e dopo Raffaello, Exhibition catalogue, Urbino, 1983, pp. 474-477. Another version of this subject was sold in Pasolini’s 1853 sale as lot 216, but it is not the present lot.
5. This group of works has primarily been assembled by the dealers Justin Raccanello and Camille Leprince, see Leprince, Raccanello and Carteaux, Feu et Talent II. Majoliques italiennes de la Renaissance (Vandermeersch / XXVIe Biennale des Antiquaires), Paris, 2012, pp. 115-16. The group is named after a charger painted with the Conversion of Saul which was formerly with Bazaart, London, see Camille Leprince, Justin Raccanello and Elisa Sani, Urbino – Venice, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, 2016, pp. 66-69.
A plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, is probably from the ‘first service’(3). Franco’s drawings remained in use by local maiolica workshops, and the author of this charger would have worked from a copy of the drawing(4).
The present charger appears to be by a prolific anonymous painter dubbed the ‘Painter of the Conversion of Saul’, whose works have been attributed to various production centers including Urbino, Pesaro, Castel Durante, Rimini and Lyon in France(5). None of the group assembled so far includes an inscription with a place of manufacture. As the painter could have moved between different centers, it is difficult to be certain if this charger was painted in the Duchy of Urbino or beyond. For a footed dish in the Musée du Louvre painted with Guidon Selvaggio, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 291-292, no. 911, where it is attributed to Rimini, and for a bowl in a private collection painted with Tobias, the Angel, and the Fish, see Timothy Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting, Turin, 2018, pp. 336-337, no. 146, where it is attributed to Urbino district or possibly Rimini.
1. The drawing is in the British Museum, inv. no. 1946-713-350. Also see J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum; Artists working in Rome c. 1550 - c. 1640, London, 1983, no. 152.
2. See Timothy Clifford and J.V.G. Mallet, ‘Battista Franco as a Designer for Maiolica’, Burlington Magazine, no. 879, June 1976, pp. 307-410, and Johanna Lessman, ‘Battista Franco Disegnatore di Maioliche’ in Faenza, No. 2, 1976, pp. 27-30.
3. Clifford and Mallet, ibid., 1976, fig. 47 and p. 404. The authors identify the ‘first service’ as fine pieces, their borders with putti and trophies, their reverses with inscriptions in blue capital letters, see p. 395.
4. Cf. Ravanelli Guidotti, ‘Battista Franco disegnatore per la maiolica’, in M. G. C. D. Dal Poggetto & P. Dal Poggetto (eds.), Urbino e le Marche prima e dopo Raffaello, Exhibition catalogue, Urbino, 1983, pp. 474-477. Another version of this subject was sold in Pasolini’s 1853 sale as lot 216, but it is not the present lot.
5. This group of works has primarily been assembled by the dealers Justin Raccanello and Camille Leprince, see Leprince, Raccanello and Carteaux, Feu et Talent II. Majoliques italiennes de la Renaissance (Vandermeersch / XXVIe Biennale des Antiquaires), Paris, 2012, pp. 115-16. The group is named after a charger painted with the Conversion of Saul which was formerly with Bazaart, London, see Camille Leprince, Justin Raccanello and Elisa Sani, Urbino – Venice, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, 2016, pp. 66-69.