Two-handled bowl: C.152-1991

Maker(s)

Maker: Unidentified Orvieto pottery (Probably)

Entities

• Two-handled bowl

Categories

• Tin-glazed earthenware
• Maiolica

Description

Renaissance maiolica two-handled bowl, painted in blue and yellow with two crossed ellipses surrounded by concentric circles.

Earthenware, tin-glazed cream on both sides and dribbled onto the base. Painted in blue and dark yellow.
Shape 45 with warped sides. Circular with curved sides and two loop handles, standing on a narrow foot.
In the middle are two crossed ellipses with triple strokes of blue or yellow in the spaces; on the sides, concentric circles: three blue, a yellow and two blue. Both sides of the exterior are decorated in the middle of the rim with an inverted blue tuft or palmette, and below, on the left and right, is a C-shaped stroke with a dot (one dot missed out).

Notes

History note: Signor Avvocato Arcangelo Marcioni (1859-1928) or Cavaliere Capitano Ferdinando Lucatelli (1859-19 ); Sotheby's, 16-17 February [17] 1914, Catalogue of the collections of early Italian pottery formed by Signor Avvocato Marcioni and Cavaliere Capitano Lucatelli of Orvieto, part of lot 182 (unsold). Purchased from Kerin, London, on 9 December 1933 by H.S. Reitlinger (d.1950); the Reitlinger Trust, Maidenhead, from which transferred in 1991.

Legal notes

H.S. Reitlinger Bequest, 1950; transferred from the Reitlinger Trust, 1991

Place(s) associated

• Orvieto ⪼ Umbria ⪼ Italy

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1991-04-29) by Reitlinger, Henry Scipio

Dating

15th Century#
16th Century, Early#
Renaissance
Circa 1450 CE - 1510 CE

Note

During the second half of the 15th century simply decorated two-handled bowls were made in immense quantities in central Italy, judging by the numbers extant. They are usually decorated in two or three colours with a central medallion containing a stylized plant motif, grid or spots, surrounded by concentric circles, and may have horizontal bands or fan-like palmettes or half-palmettes on the exterior. Large quantities of them have been recovered from butti (rubbish pits) in Orvieto and from a kiln site adjacent to the Pozzo della Cava in via della Cava.

This bowl was almost certainly among the '27 glazed 15th cent. plates & bowls, said to have been excavated at Orvieto' which H.S. Reitlinger purchased in 1933, some of which can be identified with lots in the Marcioni-Lucatelli sale at Sotheby's on 17 February 1914. The number on its base, '182/' indicates that it was part of lot 182 which was unsold in the sale. The bowl is therefore likely to have been made in Orvieto, although it is possible that one or other of the collectors acquired it elsewhere.

School or Style

Renaissance