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拍品专文
The present lot is by the same hand as a plate painted with a putto standing on a dolphin and held in a private collection in Assisi(1), which is inscribed with a large C on the reverse, also the same hand as a plate painted with Diana and Actaeon, held at Ecouen, which is inscribed with a large C with a paraph and a small letter o on the reverse(2).The maiolica scholars Giolio Busti and Franco Cocchi have suggested that the ‘Co’ refers to Nicola di Pietro Francioli, an important maiolica painter in Deruta who was the uncle of Giacomo Mancini, another leading painter in Deruta (known as ‘El Frate’). Nicola Francioli sometimes signed documents simply with ‘Co’, an abbreviation of Nicola which may have been his nickname.
The style of pieces by ‘Co’ is so similar to pieces which have previously been attributed to the ‘Painter of the Diruta plate’(3) that Busti and Cocchi have argued that the two painters were one and the same, but this has yet to be fully accepted(4).
The present lot is similar to a plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, which is painted with a profile portrait of a young woman in its recessed center and a border similarly divided by four medallions, two of which have male profile portraits, the left-facing portrait being a Roman Emperor(5), as is the case on the present lot. A plate in the Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen, by the same hand bears a profile portrait of a young woman with her hair wrapped in a tasseled scarf(6). The border of another plate in the same museum is also very similar to the present lot. This second Ecouen plate bears four medallions, two with profile portraits and two with trophies, divided by scrolling foliage(7). In common with the present lot and the V&A plate, the left-facing portrait depicts a Roman Emperor.
1. See Giulio Busti and Franco Cocchi, La ceramica umbra al tempo di Perugino, Museo Regionale della Ceramica, Deruta, February – July 2004 Exhibition Catalogue, Milan, 2004, pp. 128-129, no. 37. For the reverse of this plate see Timothy Wilson, Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance, Milan, 1996, p. 56, where it was attributed to the ‘Painter of the San Francesco Pavement’ (who was so-called after pavement tiles installed in the churches of S. Angelo and S. Francesco, both in Deruta). It is now accepted that the ‘Painter of the San Francesco Pavement’ was Nicola Francioli.
2. For the Diana and Actaeon piece at Ecouen, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, no. 541.
3. The painter is named after a plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum painted in a style very similar to ‘Co’ which is inscribed fatto in diruta (made in Deruta) on the reverse, see Busti and Cocchi, ibid., 2004, pp. 130-131.
4. See the 2004 Museo Regionale della Ceramica exhibition catalogue cited above. This exhibition placed key works by ‘Co’ and the ‘Painter of the Diruta plate’ alongside each other.
5. Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, London, 1940, Vol. I, pp. 162-163, no. 493, and Vol. II, pl. 77.
6. Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 164-165, no. 540 and Françoise Barbe et al., Majolique, La faïence italienne au temps des humanistes 1480-1530, Château d’Ecouen October 2011-February 2012 Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 2011, p. 48, no. 14.
7. Giacomotti, ibid., 1974, p. 164, no. 539 and Françoise Barbe et al., ibid., 2011, p. 49, no. 15.
The style of pieces by ‘Co’ is so similar to pieces which have previously been attributed to the ‘Painter of the Diruta plate’(3) that Busti and Cocchi have argued that the two painters were one and the same, but this has yet to be fully accepted(4).
The present lot is similar to a plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, which is painted with a profile portrait of a young woman in its recessed center and a border similarly divided by four medallions, two of which have male profile portraits, the left-facing portrait being a Roman Emperor(5), as is the case on the present lot. A plate in the Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen, by the same hand bears a profile portrait of a young woman with her hair wrapped in a tasseled scarf(6). The border of another plate in the same museum is also very similar to the present lot. This second Ecouen plate bears four medallions, two with profile portraits and two with trophies, divided by scrolling foliage(7). In common with the present lot and the V&A plate, the left-facing portrait depicts a Roman Emperor.
1. See Giulio Busti and Franco Cocchi, La ceramica umbra al tempo di Perugino, Museo Regionale della Ceramica, Deruta, February – July 2004 Exhibition Catalogue, Milan, 2004, pp. 128-129, no. 37. For the reverse of this plate see Timothy Wilson, Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance, Milan, 1996, p. 56, where it was attributed to the ‘Painter of the San Francesco Pavement’ (who was so-called after pavement tiles installed in the churches of S. Angelo and S. Francesco, both in Deruta). It is now accepted that the ‘Painter of the San Francesco Pavement’ was Nicola Francioli.
2. For the Diana and Actaeon piece at Ecouen, see Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, no. 541.
3. The painter is named after a plate in the Victoria & Albert Museum painted in a style very similar to ‘Co’ which is inscribed fatto in diruta (made in Deruta) on the reverse, see Busti and Cocchi, ibid., 2004, pp. 130-131.
4. See the 2004 Museo Regionale della Ceramica exhibition catalogue cited above. This exhibition placed key works by ‘Co’ and the ‘Painter of the Diruta plate’ alongside each other.
5. Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, London, 1940, Vol. I, pp. 162-163, no. 493, and Vol. II, pl. 77.
6. Jeanne Giacomotti, Les majoliques des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 164-165, no. 540 and Françoise Barbe et al., Majolique, La faïence italienne au temps des humanistes 1480-1530, Château d’Ecouen October 2011-February 2012 Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, 2011, p. 48, no. 14.
7. Giacomotti, ibid., 1974, p. 164, no. 539 and Françoise Barbe et al., ibid., 2011, p. 49, no. 15.