Two-handled bowl: C.153-1991

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 a chequered medallion surrounded by concentric circles.

Earthenware, thrown with applied handles, tin-glazed creamy-white inside and outside; base partly glazed. Painted in blue and yellow.
Shape 45. Circular with curved sides and two loop handles, standing on a narrow foot.
In the middle is a chequered medallion surrounded by concentric circles: three blue, one orange, four blue, one orange and one blue. The outside of the rim is decorated with six blue inverted half-palmettes.

Notes

History note: Purportedly excavated in Orvieto. 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

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. A bowl with analogous decoration was found at a kiln site adjacent to the Pozzo della Cava in via della Cava, Orvieto.

School or Style

Renaissance